4 in 1
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: AU Book 7. A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy. HP/GW, RW/HG Spoilers for HP Deathly Hallows.
1. Prologue

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer:J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe.

Summary:A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Priest, and Spy.

Story:

Harry Potter was laying quietly on his bed in his upstairs room of his and his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin's home. For some odd reason, so he'd been told, it was very important that he think of this building, this suburban house as his home. The way Professor Dumbledore had explained it to him at the end of his Fifth year at Hogwarts, as long as he and his last living blood relative, that being Aunt Petunia, lived in the same home, the magic that saved his life from Voldemort as an infant, his mother's blood, would protect them not only from harm but from detection by the Dark Lord.

In all honesty, Harry didn't really feel like he had a home anymore. During the past six years, if asked directly, he would've said that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was his home, ever since Hagrid, his half-giant friend told him he was a wizard in the first place. At least he thought he would've.

Maybe it was more like the 'letter of the law' type of deal with the blood protections, rather than the 'spirit of the law' that he was debating. There was something else that was bothering him though. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

Until he remembered Hagrid telling him about being a wizard, and the adventure of going to Diagon Alley for the first time and seeing real magic, meeting wizards, witches, goblins, and everything else that happened on his 11th birthday. His 17th birthday was a full month away, and he'd been back from Hogwarts for a full three weeks already.

Dumbledore was dead. Sirius was dead. Wizards all across England were either winding up dead, under the Imperius curse and thus under the control of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, or unveiling they were Death Eaters all along. All in all, things were looking pretty grim.

Still, there was something about what happened, right after Hagrid left and his birthday was over. Something happened, but... he couldn't quite... Wait! Someone was here, in his room, right now!

Almost exploding into motion, Harry was on his feet in an instant, his wand, tip glowing, held up and pointing... at himself?

"What the...?" exclaimed Harry.

"No shit," commented the other Harry.

Harry wasn't too surprised to see something pointed in his own face, but _was_ surprised in that it wasn't a wand, but some kind of capped staff, the tip glowing with as much magic energy as his own wand. It was being held by the other Harry, who was nearly identical to the current Harry, scar and everything. Only his clothes were a bit different. And not wizard-clothes, or even muggle-clothing, but more like some kind of armor and cape combination. If anything, this other him looked like he'd stepped out of a D&D game instead of being a wizard with Polyjuice potion.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten about me Harry," a too-familiar voice called out from behind the pair.

Harry's eyes widened in shock as memories unlocked in his mind and revealed to him exactly what had happened between the time Hagrid told him about being a wizard and his leaving for Hogwarts for the very first time. How no more than three weeks after his 11th birthday a man approached Harry out of the blue and told him things, explained things... and then did something to him. Something that suddenly made everything he told him make a lot more sense now.

The man called himself Joshua, just Joshua. And he claimed to be from the future.

_August, 21 1991_

_4 Privet Dr._

_Little Whinging, Surrey_

_England_

_10:13 pm_

"I'm sorry, you're what?" young Harry Potter, just turned 11 and recently discovered wizard and student of Hogwarts, exclaimed at the strange man's bold proclamation.

"I'm from the future," he repeated.

'He' was a six-foot brown-haired white American, judging by his accent, dressed in jeans, work boots, a cotton shirt and a leather bomber's jacket, saying his name was Joshua. He had blue eyes and a day-old beard on his face, but otherwise looked as harmless as anyone you might see walking down the street. Maybe a college student, maybe a tourist, maybe someone's long-lost relative, but he no more stood out than anyone of Privet Drive did, which was saying something.

"You're from the future?" Harry asked again.

"Well, sort of," Joshua shrugged and turned to lean against the white picket fence. "It's actually more complicated than that. I'm from the past too. And not like last week the past, but like several centuries the past. And on top of that, I'm from several centuries in the future as well. But for the simple fact of the matter, I know things. Things that are going to happen to you. To the world. To everybody and everything."

At Harry's odd glare, he quickly added, "I'm not omniscient or anything, I just happen to know some stuff that you... and everybody else, don't know. Like, for example, if you suddenly could go into the past and tell Churchill about Hitler and the Nazis, or even further back and try and stop the English Civil War. Or, if you went into the future, learned everything about everybody you knew and then came back to here and now and tried to help them live better lives. How would you go about making that stuff happen?"

"I..." Harry had to admit the man had a point about that. "OK, so... why are you here and now? I'm not exactly up there with Churchill or the King of England."

"Actually you are," Joshua argued back, "To the Magical Community you are anyway. To Mortal Society... you're just an average, not-too-bright, geeky looking kid that's being shipped off to a boarding school for juvenile delinquents by the only relatives on record."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry demanded.

"You're the Boy Who Lived," Joshua reminded him.

"Oh yeah, that," the 11-year-old grumbled, leaning against the fence himself now. "So is that why your here? To meet the famous 'Boy Who Lived'?"

"Something like that. And something completely different from that at the same time," he cryptically replied. "But as you can now understand, you actually are worth a time travel to the past, same as Churchill and all the rest. Because as much as everybody else in the Magical Community wants to believe it, Voldemort is not dead. In fact, right now, he can't die. And when you really think about it, that's a hell of a lot worse for Mr. Dark Lord than it is for his would-be future victims."

"What do you mean?" Harry wanted to know.

"You'll, unfortunately, understand as you get older," Joshua explained. "What I'm really here for, Harry, is to offer you a choice. You say no, I'll cast what's known as a memory charm on you and you won't even have realized we had this conversation. If, however, you say yes, our conversation will continue and I will answer as many of your questions as I can, and. And I will change your fate."

"My fate? What is my fate? Do you mean my future?" the boy questioned.

"Yes, I mean your future. It's not bad. It's not great either, and it's not terrible or too bad all things considered. But, it's damn near well set in stone, and it's been chosen _for_ you. What I'm offering you is a terrible and awful burden, but it rolls the dice. What I'm offering you, Harry, is the power to choose and make your own fate."

"Like I said," the man continued, "your fate right now is not bad. Not bad at all, in fact a lot of people would be downright jealous to have it. But. It's not great, and oh how great it could be."

"What about all that movie, don't change the future, stuff?" Harry asked.

"That's kind of why I'm here," Joshua replied, "You ever see those American-made _Back To The Future_ films?" Harry nodded that he had seen them. "Consider me visiting here right now Marty in the first movie. What changes I'm making here and now, they're going to take your future from the middle-wage everybody's satisfied but not happy and change it into... whatever you want it to be. There is the chance that you could make it worse, a lot worse than the Biff-Rules-The-World-Future, but there is even more chance that you could make it the Perfect-Everybody-Is-Happy-Present-And-Future. It's all up to you."

"So if I say yes..." Harry hesitated.

"There's a fifty-fifty chance that things will get worse... or get great," Joshua told him outright.

"Well... what's my future like right now?" he wanted to know.

"Renowned and acclaimed throughout the entire Magical Community, high-paying and very satisfying position within the government doing something you feel satisfied doing, married to a beautiful and loving wife with three children of your own, and a fourth that is the orphaned boy of very close friends that were killed before he was even one year old. Happy, satisfied, loved, respected, and everything you could possibly want. But fearing that the future will bring or spawn another Voldemort, whose defeat cost several hundred, if not an outright thousand lives."

"And that's the catch isn't it?" Harry demanded after hearing his future. "That's why you're here. The lives that would be lost in fighting this... this Voldemort person? And that's the only thing I would want to change in my current fate, isn't it? My guilt and regret over so many people dying. Because of Voldemort?!"

"You know, you're the only wizard alive right now that will actually say his name in public?" Joshua changed subjects all of a sudden, "Oh don't get me wrong, there are plenty of wizards and witches that can say his name without stuttering, but not a one of them will do so in public."

Joshua sighed and looked up at the starry sky for a minute before looking back down at Harry. "You can't understand right now Harry, what those lives will mean to you in the future. They're your friends. I know you don't exactly have the largest number of friends right now, your cousin's tormenting making you the meat of the school so nobody wants to risk drawing his attention by associating with you. But when you go to Hogwarts, that's going to change. Big time."

"That much death can change a man Harry. And not in a good way. And like I said, you end up raising an orphan yourself. His parents will even die in front of your eyes, and you will know both of them so well. They name you his godfather, so you can see that they'll love and trust you more than you can imagine." Joshua sighed once more, stargazing and following the moon, satellites, even a few planes that were flying overhead.

"It's decision time Harry," he pronounced with finality. "I am offering you power, a chance to change the future, to save lives, and above all else, the right to choose your own Fate. Will you accept? Or has our conversation never happened?"

Harry looked at the wizard claiming to be from the future and thought hard, very hard. Finally, he looked up at the stars himself, and answered.

_Present Day_

_Harry's Room_

Harry slowly stepped back and lowered his wand as the other Harry likewise stepped back and retracted his staff. Both Harry's were now staring at the third occupant of the room, Joshua, the "wizard from the future" who looked _exactly_ the same as he did that night he spoke to an 11-year-old Harry Potter. Even his clothes were the same.

"I remember," Harry answered the man, "but I don't understand. What happened after our... conversation? I, I'm trying but I can't seem to remember anything after giving you my answer."

"And what answer was that Harry?" Joshua queried.

He was silent for a second, glancing back and forth between the other him and this man from his past, before ultimately giving his answer with a bout of impatience, "I told you yes. Yes, I wanted the power to choose my own fate. I chose to accept the power you offered me. What happened after that?"

"I happened," the other Harry answered his question.

"What? I don't understand!"

"I split you in two Harry," Joshua explained.

"What?" Harry was stunned.

"I split you in two," Joshua repeated, "And I left one here in Surrey, with his memory blocked off from him so he wouldn't be expectant of the future or anything, and I took the other with me, to train him in a... different style of magic. I'm fairly certain you wouldn't even know the branch, but I've decided to designate it; Warrior's Sorcery, or, for the laymen terms, simply _Battle Magic_. In anticipation of the coming battles."

"In case it wasn't obvious," the armor-clad Harry pointed out, "You're the one that got left behind to go to school and be Harry Potter. I'm the one that went off to receive special training in anticipation of the war with the Dark Lord."

"How do I know this isn't just some kind of trick? That you aren't Death Eaters using Polyjuice potion and aren't here to take me to Voldemort right now?" Harry demanded, highly suspicious.

"Paranoid little worm, isn't he?" the other Harry asked Joshua.

"It's not paranoia if they're actually after you," the future wizard logically argued.

Harry shrugged, acquiescing the point and instead stepped forward into Harry's personal space. Immediately, the two of them felt something. Almost... almost like a magnetic pull of some kind. And Harry knew instantly, that it was not a trick, and the Harry before him _was_ Harry Potter. He was a part of him, and vice versa. They were...

"Hey, hey, hey! None of that now!" Joshua got between them and physically separated them. "At least, not yet. And most certainly not here. There's going to be enough collateral damage as it is when you two merge back together, we don't need it happening in the middle of a suburban home that just so happens to be under no less than four different kinds of surveillance!"

"Sorry," Warrior Harry apologized, stepping back. "I figured it was the fastest way to get him to agree and to accept what's going on. It also got him to shut up in case you didn't notice."

"Oy!" Wizard Harry exclaimed.

After a minute for everyone to calm down, Joshua directed them all to leave through the house as quickly and quietly as possible. Since it was very close to midnight, this was both easier and more difficult than any other time. Easier in that there was a guarantee that none of the Dursley's would suddenly walk around a corner and see two Harry's there. Difficult in that because the Dursley's were asleep, they had to make sure not to make _any_ noise that could wake them up, and without using any magic.

Once they were safely outside in the backyard, surrounded by Aunt Petunia's rather high and award-winning rose bushes, Harry finally exclaimed, "All right, enough! What is going on here? Where are you taking me? And what did you do to me six years ago?"

"Wish I was taking you somewhere," Joshua looked around nervously. "As it is, you're about to have a late night raid from both the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix. As for what's going on... I'm about to put you two back together again. And it's going to make a lot of noise when I do that."

"Wait... what?!" Warrior-Harry exclaimed. "You cannot be serious! I thought I would be fighting alongside the twerp here, not... not,_become_ him! This isn't fair!"

"What was it you thought you were doing up there anyway?" Joshua argued in a hushed voice. "You two _belong_ together, you are quite literally pieces of the same person. And we have to do this precisely at midnight too, otherwise the fusion will be imperfect." He looked up at the sky, causing the Harrys to likewise gaze upward, and they were surprised to see a clearly defined constellation that Wizard-Harry had never taken much notice of. Leo was moving closer to Draco. Ursa Minor and the Bird were likewise moving strangely closer, but not as close as Leo and Draco now were.

"What's going on?" Harry finally asked.

"Everything up till now has had to happen Harry," Joshua answered. "Facing Voldemort as a child, Voldemort's resurrection, the death of friends, the deaths of Sirius, Dumbledore, and everyone else so far, it all had to happen. Your choice however, the choice to choose your own fate, has lead us to this moment. One had to remain behind to live the life of Harry Potter. The other was taken and received the training and power that can enable you to defeat Voldemort with little to no more bloodshed."

A heavy pause filled the air. "This is where everything changes. Everything you choose after tonight is going to be different, and none of it is set in stone for you."

"So... Dumbledore's plans for me?" Harry whispered helplessly.

Joshua shrugged. "That's up to you. If you choose to go along with Dumbledore's plans, then more power to you. Although you should be aware your other here, I've already informed him exactly where every remaining Horcrux is, and it's form. The only one you should have any difficulty with is the snake. Oh. And before I forget..."

He rummaged around his pockets for a second or two before bringing out a small glass cube. "I need both of you to touch this if you please. At the same time."

Shrugging at one another, both of them reached out with their hands and touched the sides of the glass cube, only to feel something drain out of them and in the aftermath left them both feeling as though a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders. Also, the clear glass cube had gone from empty to a solid glowing black. How something could _glow_ black was beyond them for the moment, but it was.

"Now..." the time wizard mumbled to himself, holding out the cube before them, "let's see what we can do with this. Ah! There we are. Three powers without all that other junk and no connection to the snake-man. Perfect!"

Then, suddenly, without warning, six streams of grayish mist shot out of the black cube and went into each Harry, three per boy, entering through their eyes and mouths. After that sudden twist of events, neither one really knew how to react, except that they still felt as though a terrible weight was gone from them.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Warrior-Harry demanded to know.

"I really hate to break it to you, and I didn't tell _you_ earlier because I didn't want you freaking," Joshua said to them, pointing at the warrior, "but you were the 7th Horcrux, Harry. Or rather, up to your 11th birthday you were the 7th Horcrux. Then I split you and two and there were 8 Horcruxes... Anyway, what I just did was I removed that piece of Voldemort's soul from the both of you and put it in here," he held up the black cube. "Then I took three of Voldemort's powers, the ones that would be actually useful to you, and without any dark magic attached to it, and put just the powers back into you. Not that hard once you know how."

"What powers?" both Harrys demanded at once, neither one looking too pleased at this new information.

"Parseltongue, for starters. Then two of his lesser known abilities; mind control and sensory manipulation. Although the latter is better known as_tactus contineo_, where he could control what others feel, and I mean like touch kinda feel. Mostly he used it as a very, very crude and imperfect preliminary to the _Cruciatus Curse_. Likewise with his mind control powers, Tom Riddle was using generic mind control long before he learned and mastered the _Imperius Curse_."

"You mean I can still speak parseltongue, despite Voldemort's powers having been removed now?" Wizard-Harry queried.

"You mean I've been using those powers all these years and they actually belonged to Moldy Shorts?!" Warrior-Harry asked at the exact same time.

Joshua winced and held up his hands for silence. "Yes, and I'm sorry you either didn't know, or that I took so long to take care of it. But it's been taken care of now. And... we're out of time."

"What do you mean?" both of them asked in stereo.

"This," and the wizard from the future grabbed them by their shoulders and shoved them together.

The flash of light and thunder made half the state think somebody had just nuked an England suburb.


	2. Evacuation Day

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer:J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe.

Summary:A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Priest, and Spy.

Story:

_Two weeks later_

_Saturday, July 25_

_Evacuation Day_

The past week had seen many changes for Harry Potter. Although outwardly one couldn't really tell the difference, to Harry himself, things were far far far different from what they had been before. He had been two people, two entirely separate, individual, unique people for a good portion of their lives, and then WHAM! Those two people, with different pasts, different choices, different lives and whole identities even, were now one. One person with the memory, the experience, and the combined power of two very powerful wizards. In one body.

Needless to say, there was an adjustment period.

At first, Harry found himself waking up in his bed wondering if the whole thing was just one more weird dream in his long running list of them, but then Uncle Vernon started ranting about the terrorists, the IRA, gas explosions, and everything else that news was saying about a mysterious phenomenon the night before. Shortly after getting away from breakfast, Harry started to notice things. Small things at first, but as he began to notice them more, and became more and more emotional in response to them, they turned into bigger and bigger things.

First, everything metal or plant based tended to... bend towards him, like paper clips to a magnet, and then things started to float. Usually whatever he was thinking of at the moment, from the remote control, the milk, the door, his coat, that kind of stuff. Then, after he actually took notice, things started to... spark. Usually just a sprinkle here and there, then a little spark, and by the point he got very paranoid, arcs of raw power began to shoot between him and, well almost everything else!

By the time he got to the distant park several blocks away, where he did a lot of his thinking most of the time, the flashes had started. Not flashes of light or magic, flashes of memory. At first he was just trying to remember what Hagrid had told him about stuff he'd done or had happened to him as a kid to convince him he was a wizard. Then, he started thinking of the time that he'd been training in the lower forest and his magic control was still at the beginner level. And then he confused himself trying to differentiate how he could remember things that he hadn't done, until he remembered that he _had_ done them.

While he spent the day at the park, he very quickly came to realize what was happening to him. He was fusing everything that the _two_ Harry Potters had learned and lived through individually into himself, the Harry that _he_ was now. There was also to consider that both of who he had been were very powerful wizards in their own right, and neither had even started learning magic until after they'd split.

So in other words, on top of memories and experiences, his magic just got doubled beyond anything he'd... previously been accustomed to, so once more, like when he was younger, his magic was exploding all over the place. Well, not necessarily exploding, more like overflowing.

And while half of him only cared so long as his wand still shot out the right spell, the other half of him depended on his magic control and everything he knew about Battle Magic was completely useless without it. So while the first half of the first day there was spent figuring out what had happened to him, the remainder was spent in that park going through every single one of his magic control exercises and meditating until he was first of all no longer shooting off magic all over the place, and secondly, no longer making himself confused with memory flashes. A full integration of memories and experiences would take much longer, and both sides of him agreed, in this time of war, that learning and gaining back his control of his magic was the top priority.

Each and every day after that was then likewise employed in meditation and magic control exercises until Harry felt that he had enough of his mastery back that he could survive an actual battle using his spells. Which, for anyone else in the world is like saying that he was at 101 out of 110.

He spent as little time as he actually could during the week with the Dursley's, but unfortunately they couldn't be avoided forever. In fact, given some of their conversations, Harry had to wonder about the intelligence, let alone the sanity of his closest blood relatives. Petunia and Dudley were easy to manage in point of comparison, although Dudley kept asking Harry where he went every day when the wizard went to the park to train, while Petunia was oddly silent in the face of everything going on.

No, the real question of sanity and intelligent thought originated no further than Vernon Dursley himself. It seemed that from the day that he fused together, Uncle Vernon was continuously flip-flopping his position and his decision to believe anything that Harry and the Order of the Phoenix had explained to him. On the days he did believe, he had everybody packing up the car so they could leave early and at a moments notice, and he also kept overfilling the petrol tank at the same time. On the days he didn't believe, he had everybody unpacking the car and doing chores around the house to make it seem as though it were just a bit of late spring cleaning. Usually Harry just had to walk back up the driveway at dinnertime, after a full day of training, to get Uncle Vernon to change his mind all over again.

On the magical front of the world, during the last week of Harry's life at number 4 Privet drive, besides his own training, quite a few things were happening. The war had taken an ugly turn, not that it was out in the open or anything. And of course there were the reactions to the news that Professor Dumbledore, "the one wizard You-Know-Who was afraid of" was dead, killed by one of his own and most trusted teachers.

Speaking of which, Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the _Daily Prophet_ that had made half of Harry's lives miserable for the past few years, was writing a book; _The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore_. Half of Harry was outraged at the affront to a man he considered to be a great wizard and a true hero. The other half tempered his reaction, knowing that there wasn't anything he could really do about it, not without making it a lot worse anyway. Besides, it was the politics and popularity game and _both_ sides of him absolutely hated that.

So, rather than waste his time reading the trash rag wizards called a newspaper, Harry was spending his last few hours meditating in his room. It was probably the fact that he was doing it while floating four feet off the floor and various objects were floating around him in an orchestra of movement and magic, some going to the trash, some reorganizing into something the next owners of the house might find convenient, and a precious few going into a knapsack/pouch/duffel bag that would be going with him when the Order arrived.

Since Harry was still 16, and not yet 17, according to the Wizarding World, he should not be allowed to do magic and if he was, the Order had it on good authority that he would be whisked off to Azkaban or to Voldemort himself faster than the owl delivering notification of his expulsion from Hogwarts could arrive. It was absurd how easily he'd discovered the way around that.

Part of Battle Magic is masking your signature so that anybody aiming a spell at you can't detect you to cast it, and thus an entire branch of cloaking spells had been trained into Harry from the time he was 13 years old. Well, since half of him was 13 years old...

Anyway, another thing to note is that the Trace, the tracking spell that the Ministry of Magic uses to monitor underage wizards, cannot differentiate between ambient magic and raw magic. Meaning the magic floating through the air, or that is present in the blood ward protecting him and the Dursley's from Voldemort, and the magic that leaks out of all wizards that don't know how to control themselves.

So once he had flooded the entire house with enough raw magic that Voldemort himself could've had a duel in the middle of it with every underage wizard in England and the Ministry wouldn't know it, he cast a few cloaking spells and thereby allowing him to once more use magic unimpeded and without consequence. Hence why he was using it to pack while he concentrated on meditating instead.

While meditating, he did a quick scan of the surrounding area. Hmm... That's interesting.

Another part of Battle Magic is the skill of finding your own target for spells,_despite_ their own means of masking their presence. Harry wasn't the greatest tracker in the world by far, but that didn't mean he couldn't detect more than two dozen magical signatures closing in and taking up search and holding patterns in mid-air.

Then... on the edge of his consciousness, a too-familiar dark presence, broken, weakened and mutilated. Good god! How the hell could such a magical signature belong to one of the most powerful and feared Dark Wizards of all time?! It was like he barely had even a _seventh_ of his own power. And what he did still have was barely an illusion of itself. It spoke to Voldemort's strength that his soul was even still capable of maintaining his body, let alone his magic!

The sound of the front door slamming echoed up the stairs and a voice yelled, "Oi! You!"

Frowning, Harry let go of his meditative trance and slowly lowered himself back to the ground. Around him, everything quickly tidied itself and his bags and Hedwig's cage trailed after him as he left the room for the last time ever. To be quite honest, he would be perfectly happy if he never even had to see the house ever again, let alone his tiny little cupboard of a room.

"BOY!"Uncle Vernon yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"You took your time!" the giant red-faced man roared as Harry appeared at the top of the staircase. "Get down here, I want a word!"

Shrugging, Harry strolled down the stairs, keeping his hands in his pockets. His bags and Hedwig's cage remained at the top landing so he didn't make Uncle Vernon even more enraged than he already was. Having kept track, Harry knew that today was one of his uncle's 'don't believe' days and was prepared with a counter-argument, seeing as the Order would be arriving in less than an hour by now.

When he reached the living room he found all three Dursleys, dressed for traveling; Uncle Vernon in a fawn zip-up jacket, Aunt Petunia in a neat salmon-colored coat, and Dudley, Harry's large, blond, muscular cousin, in his leather jacket.

Stopping before them without saying anything, Harry listened as Uncle Vernon commanded, "Sit down!" Harry raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Please!" Uncle Vernon added, wincing slightly as though the wind was sharp in his throat.

Considering for several long moments, Harry just smirked, pulled his hands out of his pockets and crossed them before his chest as he sat on the arm rests of Aunt Petunia's couch. Watching with mild amusement as his uncle went from red-faced to an unhealthy shade of purple, he waited.

"I've changed my mind," Uncle Vernon pronounced.

"No," Harry countered instantly.

"It—what?!" Uncle Vernon practically began to foam at the mouth like a rabid dog.

"First of all," Harry continued as though his uncle hadn't even spoken, "we're short enough on time as it is, so when I say we don't have time to debate this, I mean it." The very first lesson worth learning in studying Battle Magic, is that during war, Warriors have to take command, which means sounding and acting like you know exactly what you're doing all of the time and expecting everyone to do everything you tell them to do, all of the time. Harry had taken this to heart very shortly after his first very real battle.

"It doesn't matter if you believe what you've been told or not," Harry continued, speaking louder when Uncle Vernon tried to interrupt, "It_doesn't matter_ if you've changed your mind or not. It doesn't matter why you think we're doing this for you, and it most assuredly does not matter what excuses you've come up with to argue for staying. All that matters,_ALL that matters_ from here on in, is your wife and son. If nothing else, believe _that_ Mister Vernon Dursley!"

"After we leave here, we wash our hands of each other. I don't care if you think of me, I don't care if you even say my name even once after today, I don't even care if I ever see the lot of you ever again! But for right now, and when the Order gets here, we are family and that means that all of us have to do what we can to ensure our family's survival. Whatever that might mean for each of us."

"For you, that means no more changing your mind or wasting my time! For you two, that means sitting there, being quiet, and doing what you're told, when you're told! And for me, well, for me it's a _LOT_ more complicated, so until the Order arrives here, I want you to go through this house one final time to make sure that there is absolutely nothing that would make you come back here, for any reason. Is that understood, Mister Vernon Dursley?"

Staring in mute shock, the now pale-faced Dursley nodded his head and quickly went about his task, while Aunt Petunia and Dudley remained where they were seated and sat quietly.

At five till ten, Harry stopped his uncle from rummaging through the house anymore, announcing, "They'll be here in about five minutes," and when none of them replied, he left the room to retrieve his bags and Hedwig's cage from the top landing and placing them at the back door.

Hedwig was not currently in her cage anyway. After merging, and despite that her cage had been sparking as much as everything else that morning a week ago when he woke up, the familiar owl could quite easily detect the change in him and was thrown by it for several days, until he finally managed to confront her about it and discussed things with her.

Once upon a time, the concept of "discussing" anything with an owl would have been a foreign concept to Harry, no matter how intelligent Hedwig was, but besides learning Battle Magic, half of him had learned quite a bit of what he knew as Legilimency, but learned it as telepathy. Something more that he'd done for Hedwig, was that he fully made her his Familiar.

What that meant is that besides just having her with him all the time, or as a favorite pet, he had actually shared his core with hers and vice versa, and now their magic was linked for the rest of their lives. They also didn't need his clumsy attempts at Legilimency anymore to communicate, as they could speak mind-to-mind without it. That Harry had done this once before didn't seem to matter to Hedwig, but given that his first Familiar had given its life to save his at the time, he felt that she understood the honor he bestowed by doing so with her.

He'd sent her out to hunt earlier in the morning and she had yet to return, but given the number of Death Eaters he was detecting now circling the sky, he could understand how she might be hesitant in possibly leading them right to him. He silently assured her that once the Order had arrived, it wouldn't matter anymore, so she could go ahead and get back.

Then Voldemort moved a little closer and he sent her in the direction of the Owlery at Hogwarts instead. She'd be safer there until the fighting was finished anyway, and after the Order had moved him to the safe house, she could join him there much easier.

The doorbell rang. Harry glanced towards the living room and then went to open the door himself. It was too much to expect Hestia and Dedalus to cope with the Dursleys on their own this soon.

"Harry Potter!" squeaked an excited voice, the moment Harry had opened the door; a small man in a mauve top hat was sweeping him a deep bow. "An honor, as ever!"

"Thanks, Dedalus," Harry said, bestowing a small and generous smile upon the dark-haired Hestia. "It's really good of you to do this... They're through here, my aunt and uncle and cousin..."

"Good day to you, Harry Potter's relatives!" said Dedalus happily, striding into the living room. The Dursleys did not look at all happy to be addressed thus, and Harry half expected to see another outburst. Dudley shrank nearer to his mother at the sight of the witch and wizard,while Uncle Vernon resumed that unhealthy shade of purple.

"I see you are packed and ready. Excellent! The plan, as Harry has told you, is a simple one," Dedalus explained. "We shall be leaving before Harry does. Due to the danger of using magic in your house—Harry still being underage," Harry suppressed a smirk at this, "it could provide the Ministry with an excuse to arrest him—we shall be driving, say, ten miles or so, before Disapparating to the safe location we have picked out for you. You know how to drive, I take it?" he asked Uncle Vernon politely.

"Know how to...? Of course I ruddy well know how to drive!" spluttered Uncle Vernon.

"Very clever of you, sir, very clever, I personally would be utterly bamboozled by all those buttons and knobs," Dedalus complimented the man. The purple-faced man muttered several things Harry didn't even bother paying attention to.

"You, Harry," Dedalus continued, "will wait here for your guard. There has been a little change in the arrangements..."

Harry frowned, interrupting, "What d'you mean? I thought Mad-Eye was going to come and take me by Side-Along-Apparition? What happened?"

"Can't do it," Hestia answered tersely, "Mad-Eye will explain."

"_Hurry up!_" Dedalus' pocket watch suddenly screeched, prompting the witch and wizard to hustle the Dursleys out the door. "Quite right, we're operating to a very tight schedule," Dedalus exclaimed as he shoved the device back into his pocket and helped Hestia in getting the Dursleys moving. "We are attempting to time your departure from the house with your family's Disapparition, Harry; thus the charm breaks at the moment you all head for safety." He turned to the Dursleys, "Well, are we all packed and ready to go?"

None of them answered, so Harry took the opportunity to add his own changes to the plan. "Dedalus, I'm afraid that you're going to have to go a lot further than ten miles before Disapparating. Uncle Vernon, since you'll be driving, drive _immediately_ and as quickly as you can for downtown London. Take the highways, and no sooner than when you reach the third exit in, that's when you pull over and Disapparate to the safe point."

"But... but... but..." Dedalus spluttered.

"All that matters is them. Remember that," Harry ordered, looking Uncle Vernon in the eye. "You," he turned to the magicals, "will not take them anywhere until Uncle Vernon stops and turns off the car and tells you that they've actually stopped. London is about half an hour from here at the longest. That should give me enough time."

"Enough time?" Dedalus exclaimed. "Enough time for what?!"

"After this is all over, you'll find out. Now go!" Harry ordered.

He left them there, going to the back door, not even glancing back as he heard the door slam shut as the last of them got in the car and he heard it drive off. "Goodbye," said Harry to the empty house, and his relatives now driving away. His voice dropped dead at his feet and he felt now more than ever that things had changed beyond what they should've been.

_Fifteen minutes later_

_4 Privet Dr_

_Backyard_

Harry was still standing on the back porch, straight as an arrow, his arms at his sides while his hands folded together at the small of his back. He kept his eyes closed and his head bowed, taking these last few moments to meditate and to further his magic control as much as possible without a full extra month to further practice. Breathing steadily and softly, he reached out with his senses, tracking and identifying all of the magical signatures that was swarming the skies over Little Whinging. The calm before the storm.

As a surprising number of signatures made a rather roundabout method of circling the entire hamlet once, back tracking twice, and then doing multiple loop-de-loops and zigzags before splitting up going in completely random directions, before finally at a precise moment made a straight shot for his backyard. All the other signatures, aka the Death Eaters, flying around were much, much higher and thankfully didn't see the rather useless aerobatics, despite all of those in question being under Disillusionment Charms.

The second that the majority of them had landed and removed the not-very-effective-invisibility spells, Harry looked up and plastered a genuine grin on his face. He stepped out calmly, but excitedly into the back yard and joined the greeting of friends and might-as-well-be family. They all gave a great shout out to him and Hermione flung her arms around him as Ron clapped him on the back. Hagrid, in his usual gruff manner, said, "All right', Harry? Ready fer the off?"

"Change of plan," growled Mad-Eye, who was holding two enormous, bulging sacks, and whose magical eye was spinning from darkening sky to house to garden with dizzying rapidity, "Let's get undercover before we talk you through it."

Shrugging, Harry led them all back into the kitchen where, laughing and chattering, they settled on chairs, sat on Aunt Petunia's gleaming counters, or leaned up against her spotless appliances. It was probably the most full the kitchen had ever been, even counting all the times Uncle Vernon had guests over. Ron, redheaded long and lanky young man, who came up to Hagrid's shoulder in fact; Hermione, her bushy brown hair tied back in a long plait; Fred and George, grinning, looking, hell even dressing identically; Bill, badly scarred and long-haired; Fleur, Bill's wife, slender and beautiful, with her long silvery blonde hair; Mr. Weasley, kid-faced, balding, his spectacles a little awry; Mad-Eye, battle-worn, one-legged, his bright blue magical eye whizzing in its socket; Tonks, whose short hair was her favorite shade of bright pink; Lupin, grayer, more lined, and yet with a content smile on his face; Kingsley, bald, black, broad-shouldered; Hagrid, with his wild hair and beard, standing hunchbacked to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling; and Mundungus Fletcher, small, dirty, and hangdog, with his droopy basset hound's eyes and matted hair.

Grinning at each in turn, Harry felt incredibly fond of all of them, and as such his heart swelled with the sense of family, unity, and purpose. He was happy. And a bit concerned by this change of plans.

"Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Prime Minister?" he asked the Auror from across the room. He practically had to shout given how filled the place already was.

"He can get along without me for one night," the large black man replied. "You're more important."

Smirking and trying not to laugh out loud at that statement, he turned his head down in attempt to hide it.

"Harry, guess what?" said Tonks from her perch on top of the washing machine, and she wiggled her left hand at him, where a lovely diamond ring glittered from.

"You got married?!" he yelped, looking from her to Lupin in open shock and pleasant surprise.

"I'm sorry you couldn't be there, Harry, it was very quiet."

Harry just shrugged, still grinning like a loon, "Yeah, well, makes it more romantic I hear."

"All right, all right, we'll have time for a cozy catch-up later!" roared Moody over the hubbub, and silence fell in the kitchen. Moody dropped his sacks at his feet and turned to Harry. "As Dedalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He's made it an imprisonable offense to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, seeing as your mother's charm does that already. What he's really done is stop you getting out of here safely."

"Second problem: You're underage, which means you've still got the Trace on you."

Harry just nodded, accepting these facts, although it was good to know what the Wizarding World called the spell finally. Mad-Eye grinned when Harry kept silent and quickly continued. "Unfortunately, that's the charm that detects magical activity around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about underage magic! If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thinknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters."

"We can't wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen you'll lose all the protection your mother gave you. In short: Pius Thinknesse thinks he's got you cornered good and proper."

Harry snorted. He could tell them now, but better to let Mad-Eye explain his plan fully before breaking the poor man's delusions. He owed the old Auror that much at the least for all the trouble he'd gone through.

"So, we're going to use the only means of transport left to us, the only ones the Trace can't detect, because we don't need to cast spells to use them: brooms, thestrals, and Hagrid's motorbike."

Frowning, the Boy Who Lived considered that and could immediately detect more than a dozen basic flaws in the plan, not to mention the near hundred faults that had to do with information Mad-Eye clearly did not have at his disposal at the time. For example the near-fifty Death Eaters patrolling the skies above cloud level under Disillusionment Charms, and Voldemort himself. Still allowing Mad-Eye his time in the spotlight, Harry remained silent for the time being.

"Now, your mother's charm will only break under two conditions: when you come of age, or," Moody gestured around the pristine kitchen, "you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle are going to separate ways tonight, in the full understanding that you're never going to live together again, correct?"

Harry just nodded, struggling to keep his smirk off his face.

"So this time, when you leave, there'll be no going back, and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. We're choosing to break it early, because the alternative is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and seize you the moment you turn seventeen. And the one thing we've got on our side is that You-Know-Who doesn't know we're moving you tonight."

Harry had to disagree there, judging by how close the Dark Wizard was to him at just that moment.

"We've leaked a fake trail to the Ministry: They think you're not leaving until the thirtieth. However, this is You-Know-Who we're dealing with, so we can't just rely on him getting the date wrong; he's bound to have a couple of Death Eaters patrolling the skies in this general area, just in case. So, we've given them a dozen different houses every protection we can throw at them. They all look like they could be the place we're going to hide you, they've all got some connection with the Order: my house, Kingsley's place, Molly's Auntie Muriel's... you get the idea."

"Forty-seven," Harry remarked.

Moody frowned, confused and blurted out, "What?"

"There are Forty-seven Death Eaters in a grid-search pattern and patrol in the skies over Little Whinging right now. And then there's Voldemort himself, but he's in a spiral search pattern," Harry explained to everyone's ever-mounting shock.

"How did..." started Moody.

"How did I know? You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Harry replied forthwith, "How did Moldywart find out about the right date? Two guesses."

"Snape!" Moody growled, incensed.

"Probably," Harry shrugged. "No way to be certain without Snape being here for us to ask him. Doesn't change the facts though. We've got Death Eaters and Moldywart circling above like vultures, can't Apparate or use a Portkey, but we do have several thestrals, brooms, and Hagrid's motorbike. What's the rest of your plan, just so I know?"

Several of those present were rather surprised at Harry's abrupt and commanding attitude, but Moody just grinned, figuring the boy was finally growing some backbone. "You'll be going to Tonks parents' place. Once you're within the boundaries of the protective enchantments we've put on their house, you'll be able to use a Portkey to the Burrow. Any questions?"

"Oh, where do I begin?" Harry mumbled. Harry was silent for a full ten seconds, his hand cupping his chin in the famous 'Thinker's pose' before speaking again. "I take it that not all of us will be heading towards the same location, hence why masking so many different locations, with each of them having a Portkey to the Burrow, correct?"

"Not bad boy," Moody cackled. "Now—"

"And just out of curiosity, how is it that all of us going to these different houses helps us confuse the Death Eaters? Because it doesn't matter if they know where I'm going or not, they see me, the Dork Lord is still going to be coming after me the second a single Death Eater lays his eyes on me."

In their corner the Twins were struggling not to burst out laughing, though their red faces and laughing eyes said enough. Others were equally amused while most were kind of horrified at Harry's cavalier attitude towards Voldemort's name.

"Ah," said Moody, "I forgot to mention the key point. Fourteen of us won't be flying tonight. There will be seven Harry Potters moving through the skies tonight, each of them with a companion, each pair heading for a different safe house." From inside his cloak Moody now withdrew a flask of what looked like mud. There was no need for him to say another word; Harry understood the entire plan immediately. Amateur.

An ominous silence reigned in the kitchen for several long moments as Harry looked Moody in the... eye. Finally, Harry asked quietly, "Still curious, but how many of us were you expecting to actually make it to the Burrow, keeping in mind that Voldemort himself is in the air as well?"

At that, every wizard and witch in the room visibly winced and even Moody kind of flinched back at the bland statement. "Yeah, thought so," said Harry. He turned away and started making his way to the back yard.

"Harry! Where are you going?" yelled Hermione.

"Oh, I was thinking I'd go up and clear the air, so to speak," he casually answered.

"What?" exclaimed Ron.

"Well, you see, I've been making a plan or two myself. And I gotta say, it's considerably better than Plan B. So let's call it... Plan H for now. Thankfully, the only ones in danger in Plan H, are the Death Eaters."

"Oh, and just what is this Plan H of yours, boy?" Moody demanded.

Harry turned back and looked at them each in turn, enjoying the stunned and awed looks he was getting from each, and the annoyed look on Mad-Eye's face was good too. He just shrugged and answered, "I'm going to go wipe them out. Might try and kill Moldywart while I'm at it. Have to see how the mood strikes me."

The Twins couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing, making it sound like a bomb had gone off in the otherwise quiet house. "Good one, Harry!" Fred exclaimed. "Yeah, good one! Can't wait to see what you have for your next joke!" George added.

Harry just smiled back at the Twins and continued towards the back door. Suddenly nobody was laughing. "You are joking, aren't you, Harry?" asked Fred, his voice losing its humor.

"Nope," replied Harry as he stepped out into the back yard and looked up at the darkening sky.

"HARRY!!" Hermione screeched loud enough that all the glass in the windows and kitchen shook from it. "You cannot be serious, now stop joking around and give us your hairs so we can look like you already!"

"No," Harry casually replied, continuing to look up at the sky.

With a growl, Moody swept outside, limping heavily as an outlet for how frustrated he was getting and then physically manhandled the Potter boy inside. At least he tried to. Every time he made a grab for the boy, he was just a touch shy of actually getting a grip, and then the boy started leaning back and forth and taking side-steps... slippery little devil.

"What are you playin' at, boy?!" roared Moody once all patience had been lost.

Finally, Harry sighed and slowly walked back inside to the back porch, with everyone gathered in the kitchen and dining room, and Moody coming in behind him, he said, "There are three basic plans. Details are details, and I'm not going to bore anybody with them. Plan H, my first choice, is that I go up there right now and have a nice little row with all the flying Death Eaters and Moldy-shorts himself. Then, while I have loads of other ideas, we'll call my second choice, Plan P. Plan P has us, instead of flying the skies, using brooms, Thestrals, and everything else we got, under invisibility or Disillusionment Charms, hugging the ground and roadways all the way to downtown London where we then go to a public place, like Diagon Alley, or maybe even the Ministry itself and use a public, non-restricted Floo to get to either the safe houses, or straight to the Burrow. Then, there's what I like to call Plan Z, which is the end plan, final option, last resort... see where I'm going with this? Anyway, Plan Z... is that we go back to Moody's Plan B, where every single one of us gets either maimed, murdered, killed, shot at, injured, or in some way become a casualty of this war in some way."

"And having you committing suicide by going up on your broom by yourself is better?!" screamed a hysterical Hermione.

Harry frowned in confusion and answered, "I'm not going up on my broom! What do you think I'm mental? My Firebolt, good as it is, is no match for outmaneuvering almost fifty Death Eaters and Voldemort himself!"

Hermione was surprised for half a second before that smug 'I-knew-I-was-right' settled in on her face. Harry couldn't help the grin on his face as his next words thoroughly destroyed that look.

"That's why I was planning on flying up there under my own power and attacking them behind their backs. As for Moldywart, he's really not that tough. Doesn't exactly have a lot of magic either. In comparison I mean," he quickly added as everyone's looks went from shock to outright disbelief.

"Uh, Harry, are you feeling OK?" Lupin gently asked.

Thinking over the question, Harry shrugged and answered, "Little anxious I suppose. A bit bored now. Still curious how anyone thought Moody's idea here was a good plan, I mean honestly, it's like something..." Harry went silent all of a sudden as several things suddenly clicked in his martial-oriented mind. As the full implications of everything washed over him, his bored expression began to slowly morph into one of frustrated anger. Meanwhile, as he was contemplating these revelations, everyone else in the room was trying to 'talk some sense into him.'

"Now, Harry, there's nothing to worry about, so let's just go ahead and get you into Hagrid's motorbike, all right?" Lupin tried to sweet-talk him as though he were some kind of insane lunatic. At the same time that Lupin was speaking though, so was everybody else, at high volumes as well.

"Harry! This is serious! Especially now that... V-v-v-v... You-Know-Who is here as well!" Hermione was screeching.

"Cor blimey, Harry!" Ron shouted just as loud. "You can't be serious about all that rubbish are you?!"

"Harry, I miss'em too, but that ain't no reason fer you to go off and get yerself killed!" yelled Hagrid.

"Harry's lost it, Twin Number Two," Fred said to George, who replied, "I must agree, and I thought I was Twin Number One!" "No, I am," "No I am!" "No, me!" . . . Eventually the Twins argument got to be the loudest out of everybody.

"ENOUGH!" Mad-Eye Moody finally screamed out, silencing everybody, including the Twins. "How insane Mister Potter is will be a discussion for later, as we're already taking longer than I expected. The Dursleys are almost to the Disapparition point..."

"Actually, sorry," Harry interrupted, coming out of his silent contemplation, "There's been a change of plans there as well. They won't be Disapparating for another 12 minutes by now. So we actually have almost seven minutes still left to argue. At least I hope we do. I'd hate to have over-estimated Moldy-shorts and his jockey crew up there."

Pure silence once more.

Finally, Moody shook himself out of his stupor and growled at the boy that he still saw as a boy, but was quickly becoming a very annoying man. "What do you mean, change of plans and twelve minutes? What did you do boy?"

"I had Uncle Vernon drive into the outskirts of London on the highways, instead of going just over ten miles away on back-roads. And that type of journey usually takes about half an hour to forty-five minutes, depending on the flow of traffic, and I didn't hear about any accidents, so they should be reaching the Exit pretty soon by now. Uncle Vernon won't stop the car until they're that far away, and Dedalus is under orders from me not to try and Disapparate anyone until the car is parked and everyone out of it. And we're down to ten minutes now, so I guess I'd better get ready to go up there and kick some def-eating ass."

"BOY! Are you absolutely set and determined on giving YOU-KNOW-WHO everything he wants!? You on a silver platter and screwing with all of my plans—!"

"First of all, your plan itself was designed to practically serve me up on a silver platter to Voldemort," Harry angrily retorted, "Secondly, I am NOT, I repeat _**NOT**_ more important than any one of these... decoys that you've got here! Willing to risk their lives or not, your way will only get valuable members of the Order killed or worse today!"

Moody fumed for several seconds before coming back with an entirely different tact; logic. "If what you say is true and You-Know-Who really is up there, which is pretty unlikely if we're lucky," Moody ignored the Twins making comment over 'Since when have we been lucky?' and continued on, "and while we can't count on it, it doesn't change the fact. They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother's charm holds, but it's about to break and they know the rough position of the place. Our only chance is to use decoys! Even You-Know-Who can't split himself into seven!"

Raising an eyebrow at that comment, Harry shared a quick glance and knowing grin with Ron and Hermione. Both looked down and flushed, but didn't really react beyond that.

"So, Potter—some of your hair, if you please."

Harry just glared in absolute defiance at the old Auror. "Now!" barked Moody.

"You know what?" Harry suddenly asked. "I don't think they'll mind if I'm early. Plus it'll give me some time to play around with a few of them. And that's always fun." Then he turned and walked back out into the back yard.

"Harry!" Lupin tried one last ditch effort to get the wizard he still saw as a boy to see reason. "Don't be foolish! Sirius considered himself to be invincible too, and look where that got him!"

Harry turned back and answered with a calm logic that nobody knew he possessed, "Actually, Sirius considering himself invincible is why he went after Wormtail, and that got him into Azkaban. What got him killed is Dumbledore locking him up in a place that he hated _more_ than Azkaban for months on end. And I don't consider myself invincible Mooney. I just know what I can do. I know what the Death Eaters can do, individually and collectively. And I know what Voldemort can do. I don't think it will last much longer than five minutes really. I'll see what I can do about expanding that though, if you'd like."

"POTTER! Come back here and... and..." Moody started to rage but faltered as everyone else stared in mounting awe as Harry Potter began to cast.


	3. The Fight Part 1

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer:J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe.

Summary:A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Priest, and Spy.

Story:

Once he was decided and fully committed to his actions, Harry stopped listening to the wizards and witches around him, effectively ignoring them, focusing inward and gathering the magic needed to perform the spells he would have to use to make this work. It had to be flashy, it had to be showy, and as a result it also had to convey absolute arrogance in his own abilities, otherwise the overall plan wouldn't work.

Harry was under no delusions about killing Voldemort. As long as there were still those four, maybe even five other Horcruxes out there, the slippery snake would just come back another day, much later, probably even weaker, but all the more cautious and devious for it. Lesson # 62; the weakened opponent that lives to retreat is tomorrow's Apocalypse.

Unfortunately, Voldemort had to leave this battle fully intact, albeit suitably impressed. Which is why Harry was going for Big, Flashy, and overall Wasteful and Useless in Warlike conditions. But were absolutely perfect for Ambush and Demoralizing conditions.

Harry allowed himself a small, evil-intent grin as he brought his hands before him and formed a seal, pointer and middle fingers of both hands pointing up, other fingers curled in, right hand encircling left hand's fingers, thumbs together.

Around his feet, a blue, ethereal circle of fire began to rotate around his body, not even reaching up to become real flames, just the wisps of a blue fairy fire. Hunching down and gathering even more magic to him, Harry began to subconsciously pre-cast every one of the spells he would be using, those that would take several minutes to fully conjure that is, while the easiest and first instantly took form in a twister of glowing magic feathers, and a pair of brightly glowing angel wings sprouted out of his back.

Flapping them once, more for the effect of his audience than real need, Harry gave the group one last smirk, saying, "See you in a few minutes," and then took off into the air at half the speed of sound almost.

In a matter of seconds, he was flying several kilometers above the city, and in those same matter of seconds, every Death Eater in the sky at that moment locked onto him and flew in to cut him off. Although they had been anticipating him on his broom, or even with several people as guards with him. So it could be reasonably understood why it was that they held off from casting curses at him at the shock of seeing Harry Potter flying through the air with a pair of glowing white angel wings coming out of his back.

Things happened very quickly after that, and Harry didn't really have time to analyze every little detail, as his training took over and he just reacted and followed the plan.

Flying up several miles, Harry was very quickly surrounded by nearly thirty Death Eaters on brooms, robes and masks fluttering about them as clearly as their dark auras of malevolence and violence. Harry seriously doubted that there were even enough like-minded Pureblood wizards _left_ in the world to fill out a full Death Eater assault of this magnitude, so no doubt more than half of those present were either half-bloods or muggleborn as the terms went, and were just as likely under the Imperius Curse.

Just then, the curses, hexes, and whatnot began to fly, so Harry started casting right back. First he drew out his Holly Phoenix Feather wand and silently cast about sixteen stunners with a disarming charm between each, making sure that the stunners hit only real Death Eaters, easy to tell from the dark magic seeping their cores, and the disarming spells only hit those that were either iffy or under Imperius, also easy to tell.

Then he was past the first line and now many miles above the city. London itself was in clear view and even if they were visible to the naked eye, most would think they were either high-flying birds or dismiss it as a trick of the eye. Seeing that they were no longer all bunched up together as before, Harry decided to start the plan in earnest. He put away his wand and gathered his magic.

Once about five or six Death Eaters were almost within arms reach of him and they were preparing to strike despite seeing him there flying with angel wings, he released the spell.

"_SONIC BOOM!_" The spell flashed gold around him as a spiral wave of energy, first one, then two, and finally four arcs swirled around him at high speed and cut down and knocked all the Death Eaters off their brooms. The golden white spinning attack revolved for a few more times before finally each arc flew away as magical cutting discs, flying after the nearest Death Eater.

Seeing a few far off wizards pointing their wands at him and mouthing the words for the Death spell, Harry, very quickly, cast a long-range spell of his own.

"_FLAME ARROW!_"

Ruby lightning sparked from his upraised hand until a fireball flashed into existence and very quickly grew to the largest any wizard in England had ever seen. Then, faster than the Death Eaters could even finish mouthing their words, Harry cast the fireball at them, which flew faster than anyone could've imagined, growing exponentially as it did until all of that group were incinerated the moment it struck.

Unfortunately, that group weren't the only ones casting curses and hexes at him, and he was forced to switch to defense sooner than he would've liked, but all the same in the end. Just out of the corner of his eye, he caught the red streamer of probably one of the more lethal curses being cast, but not the Death curse, so it wasn't a problem as he activated his Shield charm.

The spell hit, but then ricocheted off into the ether. Harry then noticed a half a dozen others, just as close, and he hit the Shield charm up to the next level, silently casting a Battle magic spell called "Riryoku!"

Instantly, a golden-green flaming aura surrounded the flying wizard, and his already wild hair flew up like it was charged by static electricity as the spells hit him and they either were absorbed by the field, or reflected immediately back to the source if the curse was powerful enough. The odd glow the flaming aura produced also seemed to enhance the visible contours of Harry's muscles and likewise giving him the appearance of suddenly being a lot stronger than he was only moments before.

Of course that was just an illusion and a trick of the light. Harry was in fact several magnitudes stronger than he appeared to be, even after the effect of the aura.

"Nice try," the flying battle wizard called out to those still trying to attack him. "My turn!"

Forming a series of seals with his hands, Harry then cupped his mouth and breathed out. Giant fireballs, not quite of the strength of the 'Flame Arrow', but still giant fireballs shot out and exploded against the numerous Death Eaters. He 'breathed out' another dozen or so of the fireballs and then switched tactics by suddenly twisting around and snapped out his fist in a karate-like punch. Except that another giant fireball shot out from the end of his fist and he did that for another few dozen Death Eaters until they regrouped once more.

Seeing them gather closer together there, Harry charged a different spell this time. He moved his arms in intense concentration, pooling all of the nearby surrounding ambient magic and focusing it inwards and into a powerful attack. He didn't have the time for a full power version, at least not yet, so he had to settle for the first-stage version as he gathered all the magic energy into his cupped hands near his right hip, and then shout out the attack while shouting the spell, "_HADOKEN!_"

A bluish-white energy orb shot out at the speed of light and before the Death Eaters even knew what hit them, it blasted all of that group out of the sky.

Behind him, Harry heard the once dreaded words, "_Avada Kedavra_!"

Quickly forming another seal with his hands, Harry screamed the spell, "_Astral Barrier!_"

Out of nowhere, a ghost-phantom image of Harry Potter, minus the current wings, instantly appeared in front of the Killing Curse and 'took the hit' as it were. The spell and phantom image both vanished after colliding, and Harry suffered no ill side-effects. The Death Eater that had witnessed the "unstoppable, unbeatable curse" being... well, stopped, suffering from some severe shock, which was understandable, just floated there on his broom, mouth agape.

Harry didn't allow him to recover, instead hitting the Death Eater with another fireball from his fist, sending the dark wizard off his broom to fall screaming hundreds of meters to the earth.

Deciding to get creative, Harry began to ascend at high-speed again, forcing the Death Eaters to chase after him once more, but this time Harry put away his wand and pulled out his staff instead. It's actually somewhat of a misnomer to call it his staff, as it is a magical artifact in and of itself, though it is more than capable of channeling his magic just as much as his wand is. The artifact is actually known as the _Compliant Rod_. Yes, _that_ Compliant Rod, albeit calling it _the_ Compliant Rod, when there are actually several thousand in circulation is further deceiving.

Harry's staff, (because it is so wrong to call it "Harry's Rod"), was a brilliant emerald green color, capped with golden caps on both ends. Caps that can go spear-sharp at a moment's notice, and can expand into a full shield even faster. The seven-foot staff is also capable of shrinking down so it's no bigger than a toothpick, and likewise expanding so large that a giant would call it unwieldy, and despite it's solid-looking state, and it's impregnable nature, it could also bend and twist like rubber into all manner of forms. Combine that with a wizard able to channel Battle magic through it and a few years mastery in its usage, and that makes Potter's Compliant Rod the most dangerous weapon in the air for several hundred kilometers in all directions.

A pair of fast-flying Death Eaters were barreling in from the East, hoping to use the cover of night to hide further, but Harry could sense their very magic, making the tactic rather moot. With a rapid half-twist, the flying wizard extended the rod the twenty feet between him and them, knocking them clear off their brooms and flying through the air, screaming the whole way.

Before that motion was fully completed, he twisted back around, widening the rod to shield against a few stray hexes, and then extended the larger end face-first against the Death Eaters that had cast them. Then for good measure, he slammed them three more times until they finally fell off their brooms. They weren't screaming though, probably because they were unconscious, he idly noted.

Retracting the rod, Harry quickly spun back around to defend against a lone Death Eater and twirled the rod around him to create a temporary shield against the curses being thrown. This Death Eater, for some reason though didn't seem to be as shocked at Harry's actions, nor at the 'impossible' feats he was performing. Making extra sure, while still defending, that this was a Death Eater and not some innocent wizard under the Imperious curse, Harry was relieved to see that it was actually Goyle Sr.

Relieved of any need to hold back, and seeing that they were all adapting to his show quicker than he'd expected, the boy decided to up the ante, so to speak, and break out the Very Impressive Stuff.

Stopping his defense for only a single moment, Harry cast back his staff and shouted the spell, "_LIGHTNING BOLT! COME FORTH!_" ending the spell by pointing the business end of the staff right in Goyle's face. The nanosecond the last syllable left Harry's lips, lightning bolts from the sky, the earth, and the tip of Harry's staff all converged upon the helpless dark wizard, leaving behind a crispy husk that vanished into ash on the wind before the winged battle wizard had even flown away.

Seeing another few lone Death Eaters floating about, Harry decided to be more proactive and holding the Compliant Rod in the exact center, he channeled the attack spell through it, shooting it out both ends and taking out several more targets.

"_SPECIAL BEAM CANNON! __**FIRE!**_" From either ends of the rod a spiraling beam of orange-red energy exploded out, like some kind of magic drill, except that it drilled through a couple of bodies before finally exploding in twin explosions on either side of the flying winged wizard.

Another half dozen Death Eaters came flying up on brooms, trying to surround him from six sides at once. Not wanting to do any repeats if he could help it, Astral Barrier not withstanding, Harry flapped the Lighthawke Wings and silently manipulated the magical energies tied into them, and tapped into a few others at the same time.

"_SHEARING SCYTHE TWISTER!_" came the cry as he flapped the magical wings in a flurry of motion and safe in the eye of a small tornado, F2 at the least, F3 at the most, meanwhile the Death Eaters were nearly torn to shreds from the cutting wind that surrounded the flying Battle Mage. Moments later the twister dissipated, taking whatever shreds of the Death Eater remains with it.

Harry smirked as he did a rather large loop, flying even higher, but encountering few, if any Death Eaters. _'I can't have gotten them all already, could I? Besides, Tommy-boy is still out here somewhere, I can feel it. And I haven't even gone through half my arsenal of battle spells yet.'_ Seeing no more Death Eaters after completing a full loop around Little Whining, Harry thought, _'So much for making an impression. Guess I'll have to take the rest of them out in one big swoop. And I was hoping to save Summoning for the Big V. Ah well, can't have everything.'_

Relying no more on his eyes, Harry opened his ethereal senses and quickly located the remaining Death Eaters. Pleasantly surprised to find them grouping together, Harry quickly flew to where he was directly over and above them. Once he was in place, he quickly placed a concealment charm on himself, and made it so the Lighthawke Wings were translucent, making it difficult to spot him. Then he began casting a new spell.

Whispering the incantations of the 72-word spell, Harry focused his magic in a way that he hadn't had time to practice in the week since his fusion, and the few times that he _did_ use this spell-combination before... he didn't have enough energy to fuel it to its ultimate completion. That was OK though, for the time being he could stop at stage two, although the first stage would be more than enough to terrify the remaining Death Eaters. As his eyes snapped open, they shone with blazing green power, twin rings tracing the pupils of his eyes, rotating in opposite directions to demonstrate the level of power that he was tapping into.

In Battle magic, there are five necessary aspects of spellcraft. They are Knowledge, Control, Strength, Speed, and finally Limits. Knowledge is exactly what it is, knowledge of different types of spells and ways of using magic. Control is also what it is, being able to _control_ the flow, extent, and use of one's magic. Strength is the intensity and power behind each spell, and comes after Knowledge and Control. Speed comes with experience and has to do with how quickly one can form spells out of raw magic, and represents the pinnacle of one's training in Battle magic.

Then, there are the Limits, which is three-fold in and of themselves. Limits of the Body, Limits of the Mind, and Limits of Magic. There is only so much stress, both magical and mundane, that a human body can withstand, but likewise there are ways of increasing those limits, slowly removing them. Limits of the Mind are more difficult, but likewise not impossible to overcome, having to do with opening oneself to the possibilities they normally wouldn't, and then further limits of skill and study and understanding. Simply altering one's perspective is enough to break through such barriers. But there are only two Limits of Magic. They are called _Gates_. It is actually more accurate to call them limiters instead of limits, as they are designed, or rather in place, to prevent any one being from having more magic than they know what to do with.

The First Gate, is individual to the wizard, witch, or magical creature that can access it. Even for identical twins, both able to open their Gate, one could be the Gate of Fire, the other the Gate of Water. It is the release valve for the very power that most resonates with the soul of the magic-user.

Harry Potter's Gate... is the_Gate of Gaea._

He's only ever been able to open it for the power it provides, yet unable to use any of its _powers_. Each Gate, when fully opened, allows the Gatekeeper to use powers and abilities they normally would never have, and Gaea is the Spirit of the Earth, Mistress of all the Elements and Wielder of Magic and Gods alike. And until now, Harry has only ever received a tiny boost in magic strength by opening it.

"_GATE_..._**OPEN**_!" screamed Harry as he forced open the Gate.

Instantly, his power boosted a full level beyond and he knew something he didn't before. Below him, two concentric rings appeared only a few meters beneath the gathered Death Eaters, who had looked up at his shout. The rings were identical to the ones filling his eyes, only several thousand times larger. Then, Harry's spell completed, fixing itself to the center of the opened Gate, and just as suddenly all of the Death Eaters found they could no longer move.

"_Spellbinding Circle_!" Harry finished the trap spell.

Knowing that, while the spell would last until dispelled, he didn't have the luxury of taking his time any further, Harry tapped into the power of his Gate as much as it would let him, and summoned forth one of the two creature-types that agreed to his Summoning Contract. The latter was currently impossible, since that contract required the use of a Familiar, but thankfully, dragons were a bit more lenient, asking only for a one time payment that cost him nothing in the long run, yet still worked to benefit all parties.

He called forth the first summon, casting his hand down at the trapped Death Eaters, "_Water Dragon_!"

Sapphire energy sparked around the edge of the circle, before spreading at an unnatural speed to reveal a rearing and massive red-eyed dragon made entirely of water, snarling and roaring down at the now terrified dark wizards before it.

Casting down his other hand, he quickly summoned the second, "_Fire Dragon_!"

As with the first, a ruby bolt of energy traveled the course of the circle before quickly forming into a blue-eyed dragon made entirely of orange-red flame, just as big and terrifying as the first, perhaps even moreso. The two elemental dragons glanced at each other, judged the situation, then somehow seemed to smirk evilly down at the puny humans they'd been summoned to vanquish.

Harry flew down until he was just above the influence of his trap spell, dispelled his concealment charms, and spoke to the dragons he'd summoned. "Judge them each and every one as you see fit. Destroy the evil ones, free the innocent ones, and punish the wicked ones. Once this task is complete, if you wish, you may go. I place no hold over you, and ask only for the retribution of True Justice."

The way he had spoken, both in the words and the fact that he'd just given commands to two _elemental dragons_ scared the Death Eaters even more than anything they'd felt before now, and his words of True Justice almost sounded like a holy name, as one spoke of Old Magic. Not something one did lightly.

The dragons, however, seemed to understand this even more than the wizards did, and they nodded in unison up at Harry and then descended upon the Death Eaters, granting them all, (except maybe the three there that were still under the Imperious Curse), a very quick and very painful death.

Glancing at the circle in which they were in, Fire Dragon made a gesture with its head and suddenly the circle was surrounded by a giant ring of fire that promised to incinerate any and all who tried to cross that line. The second the ring of fire was in place all of the Death Eaters in the circle were allowed to move once more, but it wasn't like they had many options in that regard anyway.

A few tried to go down, but the ringed energy representation of Harry's Gate was the same as a stone floor and so they tried going up instead. Exactly what the dragons were waiting for.

Water Dragon seemed to take a metaphorical breath and then out of its mouth shot out gigantic water spheres that sped so fast through the air that there was an audible crack, like a bullet being fired off. Each 'water bullet' struck a Death Eater, who either collapsed dead from the high-speed water pressure, or was quickly encased in a sphere of water that then turned into a solid icy prison. Those trapped as thus, the dragons determined to not be in control of their actions at the moment, but would not be freed without closer examination. Unfortunately, the remaining Death Eaters very quickly learned to dodge any further projectiles from the dragons, forcing the summoned creatures to get... more creative.

Fire Dragon started it off by igniting the entire field, within the confines of the Gate representation, in a giant massive inferno straight out of the worst imaginings of the Underworld. Water Dragon and the Ice Prisons didn't seem to be inconvenienced by this in the slightest, however the Death Eaters were now scraping for every inch of altitude they could get.

Water Dragon decided to end the stalemate and opened its mouth once more, this time letting loose with a spray of needle-like ice-spears. Well, in comparison to the the elemental dragon's size they were needle-like, but when they impaled upon the Death Eaters they fit well with the description of ice-spears, quickly sending the souls of that group of Death Eaters on to the afterlife. Fire Dragon just helped by sending up streams of dragon fire from the inferno up to incinerate the bodies.

_Meanwhile..._

On the ground, the guards sent by the Order of the Phoenix, which is to say all of Harry's friends, stood looking up from the back yard of 4 Privet Dr. Without Omniculars none of them could be certain of what precisely was going on up above, but from the flashes of light from spells and curses, they could all take some pretty accurate guesses. When the massive Gate opened up in the sky however, and _two_ elemental dragons appeared at Harry's command and then proceeded to annihilate a large group of Death Eaters, they all began to wonder just how well they did know their friend Harry Potter.

"Dumbledore must've taught him more than we thought," Fred said to George.

"Think he'll teach us? It would make a great addition to the shop," George replied to Fred.

"Professor Dumbledore never taught him how to do _that_!" shouted Hermione. "It's not even _possible_ to do that! One can't just summon a pair of dragons! _Especially_ not ELEMENTAL Dragons!"

"But sweet Hermione," George began.

"Harry's already done it," finished Fred.

"But... but... but..." stuttered the bushy-haired witch. "How?" she finally asked, at a complete loss.

"Dumbledore himself couldn't've done anything like this," grumbled Moody. "Maybe Potter's been learning from another source. I heard You-Know-Who has a connection to Potter's mind?"

"Well... once," Hermione hesitated before continuing, "but Professor Dumbledore had Professor Snape teaching Harry Occlumency and he says that he doesn't even get flashes from... from You-Know-Who anymore! Besides, why would he teach Harry how to summon dragons?"

"Might not have taught him, so much as allowed the boy to learn," answered Moody as he looked back up in the sky, his electric-blue magic eye focused solely upon Harry. "My thoughts were if You-Know-Who has a connection to Potter, maybe Potter has a connection to him. Maybe he learned a few things that not even Dumbledore knew about."

Suddenly, there was another explosive flash in the sky and they all felt overwhelming dread from the pits of their stomachs when they saw a black figure flying without a broom, robes flapping in the wind. But it wasn't Harry. Quite the opposite, as the black figure was heading straight for Harry, streams of sickly green light leading it's charge. Voldemort had entered the fight.

_Back in the air..._

Harry had enough time to feel a blast of pain from his scar that once might've had him screaming and dropping to the floor, and then to silently cast around six "Astral Barrier" spells before Voldemort was upon him. Voldemort had cast eight Death curses at Harry, but by the time those first six had been defended against, Harry had just enough time to cast the spell twice more.

The explosion of astral energy and green sparks was nearly blinding, but Harry, or at least half of him, was used to fighting in conditions like these. Not much point in learning Battle magic if you're never in battle, is there?

Flying back and away from Voldemort, Harry very nearly ran right into another group of four Death Eaters. Unfortunately, this time, he only had time for one spell, and Riryoku wasn't going to cut it. Forming a quick seal with his hands, both hands clasped with fingers interlocking as though praying, Harry focused his magic and felt the spell complete literally at the same time as the four dark spells hit him. Thankfully, rather than Unforgivables they had cast a few 'maiming' curses, those for bludgeoning and cutting and slicing.

When the spell 'dust' had settled though, Harry was still floating there before them, Lighthawke Wings supporting him, and for the large part was mostly unharmed. Except for the definite cracks in his skin. Cracks that one usually saw in stone or rock rather than skin. Until one of the Death Eaters recognized it as the _Stone Skin_ spell, seeing a piece flake off and then float off as grains of sand.

"Bloody Hell," one of them muttered from beneath his mask. Right before Harry grinned evilly at them and cast his free hand towards them. Straight from the air, the ground, and the chips that had been blasted off of him, particles of sand and grit flowed together from nothing and quickly expanded and then entrapped the lot of them in a group of sand coffins. Still grinning darkly, he squeezed his hand shut and they couldn't hold back their screams if they wanted to as their bodies were partially crushed into a fine paste, and then he finally ended it by tossing the lot of them off towards the still-present summoned dragons. Fire Dragon saw them coming and very quickly gobbled them up right out of the air. Spitting out the masks, the dragon then let out a content belch of black smoke, drawing a disgusted look from Water Dragon.

Harry, unfortunately, didn't have time to fully appreciate that though, as Voldemort was quickly chasing after him, leading the charge with Death curse after Death curse.

"Honestly," remarked Harry as he continued to dodge and cast the occasional Astral Barrier, "doesn't the blighter know _any_ other spells? Even the Cruciatus Curse for a bit of variety here and there. I mean, here I am, the only spell I'm using with any repetition is the Astral Barrier because short of splitting off my own soul or using a few dozen Familiars and Summons, it's the only way to defend against the Death Curse, while every other spell I cast is bigger and better than the one previous. No wonder he wants to destroy the wizarding world, if he's the best the wizarding world can produce, I'd want to destroy it too."

This went on for about another minute or so, Harry bobbing and weaving, casting Astral Barrier every chance he had, with Voldemort chasing and casting Avada Kedavra with the same speed and conviction. Finally, the whole thing seemed to have gotten to the Dark Lord on some level, and he hissed out a taunt, "What's the matter Potter? Still too afraid to face me? A coward just like your pitiful father! Or that weakling Dumbledore!"

'_OK, there's keeping your cool, not losing your temper and sticking with the plan,_' Harry thought to himself with mounting rage, '_and then there's __**THAT**_'

Faster than anyone thought he could, let alone what Voldemort anticipated, Harry stopped, turned around, formed another three seals for another spell, and then he literally blurred, after-images trailing after him as he faced Voldemort and charged at the snake-man's head. All within the time it would take a normal human to blink. Once.

Startled by the movement that was faster than even his snake-like reflexes, Voldemort ducked to the side, which is probably all that saved him from being decapitated by Harry's blazing pass. Hovering in the air for only a moment before turning to face his young foe, the being once known to the world as Tom Marvolo Riddle actually took pause at what he faced.

Harry Potter, glowing angel wings blazing with power, flying unsupported with a golden-green flaming aura surrounding his body, jet black hair waving wildly in the energy of his own magic, spiked upward as further testament to that power, muscles bulging beneath the simple jeans and t-shirt he wore, and the green eyes, the burning emerald green eyes that were literally filled with rings of power.

"After this fight, Voldemort," growled Harry, "you and what remains of your followers are going to be questioning exactly who the cowards are in this war. If you're smart, you'll run now. It is not my aim to kill you here and now, on the contrary, it's simply to demonstrate to you how much of a _bad idea_ it is to continue trying to kill me. Or my friends. Or the ones I call family. You've taken quite enough of what belonged to me. My goal for today is to get you to recognize that I will no longer allow you to take anything else."

"Is that supposed to be a threat, _boy_?" laughed Voldemort.

Harry's face didn't so much as twitch as he replied. "It is my Oath."

Scowling, Voldemort forewent wasting any more time and raised his borrowed wand, preparing yet another Death Curse. In his pocket, Harry felt his wand twitch. He patted it for a moment, understanding the subtle pulse of magic it let out at said touch. Silently, he thought to it, '_I understand, I do. But it's too soon. I have to make him understand what it is he's up against and demoralize what remains of the Death Eaters first._'

"Bloody hell mate," Harry rudely interrupted Voldemort's casting, "don't you know _any_ other spells?"

Ignoring what he thought of as helpless cries for mercy, Voldemort cast the borrowed wand forth, an ugly green flash shooting forth from the tip. Until Harry, almost casually, raised his right hand and cast wandlessly, "_Astral Barrier!_" Instantly a ghost-phantom of Harry was right in front of the green flash and then both shattered like so much broken glass.

Lord Voldemort stared, uncomprehending, eyes wide and mouth agape. "Not... possible..." he gasped.

"What's the matter Moldy-shorts?" teased Harry, "You look like you just saw a ghost!" Harry laughed.

"Now," continued the winged-wizard, "before I finish you off, lets see who's still left. Ah, yes! My three favorites. The rabid dog, the insane witch, and my most favorite of them all, the _traitor_. How ya doin' there Professor Snape?"

Harry thought it particularly potent to finally acknowledge the man's title and position now that he'd lost it by killing Professor Dumbledore and running from Hogwarts, where normally he only referred to the "Half-Blood Prince" by his surname. The three appeared, flying brooms around their Dark Lord, as though summoned by magic. Actually, Harry had felt them approaching behind him, and by calling them out had canceled any plans of them ambushing him.

"No matter!" raged Voldemort suddenly. "There are many, many other ways that I have to kill you!"

"Used to be, no matter how hard you would've tried you couldn't kill me," spoke Harry conversely. "And something very recently has changed that. You actually _can_ kill me now. Meaning where before you _couldn't_ no matter what, now it's actually possible. Doesn't mean you'll succeed any better."

"What are you babbling about Potter?" hissed Voldemort.

"It's actually too complicated for you to understand," replied the boy patronizingly. "I mean, after all, it's quite clear the only way you know how to kill somebody is with that stupid puke-green curse. If you were really intelligent, you'd have over a thousand ways of killing somebody, and you wouldn't need a stick, somebody else's stick at that, to do it either. In fact, Tommy boy, I think our conversation here is concluded, seeing as if I wanted intelligent communication, I could turn just as easily to the rabid dog or the traitor. And while it's always... _interesting_ when encountering them, I'm just not in the mood today."

All of the Dark Wizards were growling with suppressed anger and rage by this point, yet some base instinct forced them to be more cautious than they normally might have been predisposed towards. Finally, the source of that instinct was revealed as Harry waved over their heads and the two dragon summons arched over and flew to either side of the small group of Death Eaters.

"You two can go now. I can handle the rest here. And thank you very much for your assistance," he said to the pair, who briefly bowed in acknowledgment before vanishing into thin air.

"Now," commented Harry, turning back to Voldemort and his few remaining Death Eaters, "Where were we?" He chuckled with violent-intent at the looks on their faces.

"Ah yes!" exclaimed the Boy-Who-Lived, who then brought both his hands to his front, cupped together and pointing downward. At the precise moment he made this pose, large sparks of bluish-white electricity came from the cup of his hands, forming what looked like a ball of pure lightning and sounding like a flock of a thousand crying birds. "_LIGHTNING BLADE!_"

Instantly, moving even faster than he ever had before, Harry charged the Dark Lord, leading with the ball of gathered lightning in his right hand. He blazed past the paralyzed creature, leaving a sharp blue-line afterimage, making it look like a true sword of electric power had cut the thing in half. Unfortunately, Harry's control over the advanced Finishing Spell wasn't as concrete as many of his others, and he missed hitting Voldemort full-on. He did put a nice sized rent in the black robes though.

Turning back around, Harry called out, "That was a warning shot Moldy-wart! Not a miss!" (Although it was, he didn't think Voldemort was insightful enough to call his bluff.) "You have two minutes to leave, or I'll make sure you don't bother anyone ever again. Especially me or mine."

For several long moments that seemed to stretch into infinity as each man judged the youth's threat, from what they knew about him and what he had just demonstrated, yet overall it did not take Voldemort himself very long to decide on how to react.

"Very clever trick-sss, _Boy_!" the snake-man hissed, his eyes turning crimson with rage. "But no matter what tricks you use, you are no match for my power!"

"Ninety seconds," Harry intoned, not changing his position in the slightest.

Voldemort sneered, then he chuckled out loud and turned to the wizards flying behind him. "Snape, Lestrange, Fenrir. Call a retreat, gather as many... survivors as you can find and go regroup. Come when I next summon you... for the victory party. Potter is all mine."

Harry sneered back at those words, but he also trusted at least one or two Death Eaters to stick around long enough to see him wipe the floor with Moldy-Shorts here. Otherwise, he'd have to make an actual attack to get them to back down afterwards and this whole exercise would be a waste of time. Oh well, just have to cross your fingers and hope it all works out in the end. Thats what he wound up doing every other time he'd been in a life or death situation anyway.

Knowing that he could no longer play around, Harry pulled out his Compliant Rod and extended it to quarterstaff length and thickness, holding it at the ready, he likewise charged it with his magic, causing the golden tips to flare with magical potential, glowing brightly in the fading sunlight. Mentally, Harry was preparing his 'Ultimate List of Spells', the depressingly few number that would deliver the most damage as quickly as possible without letting him die or draining him too fast. Likewise, it also took away almost all but one of his most powerful spells available, and likewise ruled out any future Summons.

Oh well.

The remaining Death Eaters flew off to lick their wounds, while Voldemort and Harry glared at each other across the short distance in mid-air.

"Avada K—"

"I said _try something __**NEW**_!!" Harry screamed, moving in faster than Voldemort could complete the spell, his staff physically knocking the dark wizard back for a loop.

Not letting up for even a second, Harry continued the physical attacks, extending or expanding the Compliant Rod upon need, depending on how far he'd knocked Voldemort back. Likewise, from the glowing tips of the staff, the elements began to bleed off to add further damage. Mostly just Fire and Lightning though, albeit on a few hits even the people on the ground could hear audible cracks upon the impact.

Unfortunately, Voldemort wasn't just standing there and taking it. When he flew, it was more like gliding or a plane, and it was in one direction only. Directions like forward, left, right, up, down, but one moving in curves or abruptly going diagonally, the snake-man seemed to have a little more difficulty with. On the other hand, he seemed to have taken Harry's "advice" finally and was rapidly casting a multitude of spells, curses, hexes, and other very dark things at the other flying wizard.

Once, Voldemort actually got close enough to physically strike at Harry, and given the way things were going he just about gave into the temptation. Seeing this however, Harry acted immediately, not leaving it to chance or Voldemort's arrogance to not deign to fighting dirty, without magic for once. The Boy Who Lived didn't have time for the seal, but since he was tapping so heavily into the elements as it was, he conjured an aura of pure _Lightning Armor_ to come into existence around him, arching out to strike at anything within range. Voldemort quickly retreated after the shock it gave him and resolved himself to long-range combat.

After another jarring blow from the insufferable extending rod, Voldemort conjured the same snake-shield that he'd used in his last duel with Dumbledore, over a year ago at the Ministry of Magic. Surprisingly, to Harry anyway, when the Compliant Rod slammed into the shield, it neither buckled or even dented. To Voldemort's ever-lasting surprise however, he was tossed back a dozen feet through the air. The force behind that blow was stronger than that of an enraged giant's!

Seeing them at another stalemate, Harry frowned and furthered the distance between them. When Voldemort tried to move in, Harry extended his staff in a rapid maneuver and slammed the shield, knocking the snake back another dozen or so feet. When Voldemort threw out a few more violet-black and dark-purple hued curses, the distance merely gave Harry a little more room to dodge.

Knowing that this was little more than a delaying tactic, Harry's mind raced through the available spells. If Voldemort caught him preparing his magic in any way, he'd have adequate shields in place before the younger wizard was even half done. He needed something fast, something brutal, and something distracting while he _did_ gather enough magic for one of his bigger spells. _**Arrow of Light**_ would be the perfect spell in this case, both long range and extra damaging to Voldemort's very magic core! But, it would take him at least three whole minutes to complete the forms in his mind and another two minutes after that to gather the necessary reserve amount of magic.

Regardless, he went ahead and began constructing the spell diagrams in his mind, the less time he had to spend on it later, the better. The rest of his concentration he focused on coming up with an adequate distraction, that did not _look_ like a distraction.

Then it came upon him. A very, very, very simple spell that was all power. And since his merger, Harry had become all about power. The 'Cutting Turtle Shell' attack was in fact the simplest offensive spell Harry had in his arsenal, simply requiring the user to gather as much magic as possible between their hands and then channeling a steady stream out of it as you said the spell, then it all went down to a battle of power.

Harry didn't really like to rely on it, as magic was more about thought and intent rather than just power, and Battle Magic was entirely about strategy and tactics, using power in the right way. But Voldemort was stupid enough to confuse that distinction as an actual attack on Harry's part and therefore would put all his concentration on it, not expecting Harry to even be able to prepare and use multiple spells simultaneously.

Smirking, and focusing the majority of his concentration on preparing one spell, he let his body flow into performing the other automatically, drawing and focusing the magic as needed.

Shrinking and putting away his Compliant Rod, he cupped his hands at his waist and began to gather magic into a pinpoint of bluish white light. As more and more magic began to flow, the point became an orb, and the orb began to grow and grow until a large ball of bluish white energy was formed and barely contained between his hands. "See if you can handle _this_ Tommy boy!"

Scowling at the name, Voldemort took one look at the advanced spell the boy was forming and had to admit that he was adequately impressed. Just from what he was seeing, the spell had a single effect, but the effect was proportionate to the amount of power that was put into it. Unlike all of the English-based spells he was familiar with though, this one though did not seem to have an upper-limit to how much power could go into it. It might even be worth adding to his own arsenal, if it caused enough mayhem and destruction that is.

Not willing to either overdo it, and likewise not having enough time to gather enough energy to completely destroy his enemy, Harry finally cast the spell once the orb was the size of a basketball, thrusting his hands and the bluish white power towards the flying Voldemort.

"_KAMEHAMEHA_!"

In the space of a single heartbeat, a blinding beam of energy shot from Harry's hands and impacted with a heavy explosion against Voldemort and his shield. Some hidden instinct, buried deep in his reptilian brain, made the Dark Lord wary just enough that on top of his physical shield, he cast numerous fast-acting and potent shielding spells on top of it, just in time too, as the explosion of the impact careened him back through the air, pushing him back until he oriented himself enough to begin pushing back.

Harry didn't let up on his attack however, keeping the beam going for as long as he could while he hastily, but exactly, completed the form for his next spell, the one that he hoped would finish this fight. The bluish-white beam of blinding power stretched almost a mile and connected the eternal enemies in an odd recreation of their battle in the Riddle graveyard three years ago.

At that precise moment, the sun was fully set below the horizon, only reflective rays providing any natural lighting, and so Harry and Voldemort were cast in the shadows of the blue twilight of the spell that linked them. Down on the ground however, pandemonium would've been the nice and understated way of describing the situation.

"I'm goin' up there!" Moody screamed, struggling to do just that.

The reason he was struggling at all, however, had to do with the fact that Hagrid, Lupin, and a few of the other men all had a hand on him, doing their best to restrain him and keep him from the brooms. Everybody else was staring up in the sky in ever-mounting awe.

"How is this possible? None of this should be possible..." Hermione whimpered, never taking her eyes off the dot in the sky she _knew_ was Harry.

"Beats the hell out of me Hermione," Ron answered, likewise starring and stunned.

"Did 'Arry ever zell an-ee-one zat 'Ee could do tings like zis?" Fleur begged the question, her accent even more pronounced due to stress.

"I think it's safe to assume that nobody knew Harry could do things like this," Bill answered his wife.

"Cor Blimey," Mundungus slurred, "I didn't sign on for this!"

That grabbed enough of Moody's attention that the ex-Auror was on the part-time thief like fleas on a dog, "YOU WILL REMAIN HERE UNTIL I TELL YOU OTHERWISE, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!"

"Y-y-y-y... Aye," Mundungus finally stuttered out.

"And would someone, anyone mind explaining how it is that Potter can perform spells that I've never even _heard of_, let alone be able to _fly_?!" Moody exploded on the rest of them.

Ron and Hermione were not taking their eyes off the sky, but Tonks decided to answer for them, "It really doesn't matter by this point. He's fighting You-Know-Who right now, and from the looks of it, he's winning even! What does it even matter _how_ he learned how to do it?"

"It_matters_!!" Moody growled.

"Well, I don't know where he learned these kinds of spells," she finally admitted, "For all I know ever since Dumbledore... y'know... he had his head stuck in the Hogwarts Library and has been reading up on them."

"Dear, allow me to assure you, with the exception of _maybe_ one or two of the spells we've seen Harry use tonight, and methods on how to fly without a broom or other means, nobody can find these kinds of spells in the Hogwarts Library. Not even the Restricted Section," Lupin explained to his wife.

"How many times has Voldemort cast _Avada Kedavra _at Harry now?" Hermione suddenly asked.

"Well right now Harry's shooting that really big spell of white-blue light at You-Know-Who, so he hasn't for a while now, and I wasn't keeping track earlier," Ron admitted to her.

"What's your point, Hermione?" Mr. Weasley questioned.

"Why isn't Harry dead yet? Yes, he dodged a lot of them, but I saw that there were so many, not even Harry could dodge them all, so why isn't Harry dead yet? The Death Spell is an _Unforgivable_ and as such there is no spell known that can block or stop it. So... why isn't Harry dead yet?"

Everyone, even Ron, turned to glare incredulously at the poor girl. "_That's_ what has your knickers in a twist? That Harry _isn't_ dead yet?!" Ron exclaimed.

"Because if Harry is still alive, and he couldn't dodge all of them..." Hermione continued in her thoughts, still gazing upwards, "then that means that not only _is_ there a way to block the Avada Kedavra, but Harry knows how and can use it in his own defense. Which means that Harry has knowledge of spells that nobody in the entire Wizarding World can even imagine."

That dropped quite a few jaws in the backyard there. Moody was the first to recover, as he observed out loud, "Not even You-Know-Who knows of a way to stop an Unforgivable. Which means that Harry didn't get these new powers from Him, nor from Dumbledore. Believe me, if Dumbledore could've he would've been teaching everybody from First Year Dropouts to 7th Year Heads at that school of his the way to stop an Unforgivable. Especially Avada Kedavra. So, the question is, who taught the boy?"

"Mate, I think it's pretty safe to say..." Fred began.

"...that Harry ain't no little boy anymore," George continued.

"He's a Man," they both finished together.

"Boys," growled Mr. Weasley.

"Yes Father?" chorused the twins with innocent expressions.

"Shut up."

"Yes Father," they chuckled.

"I've had just about enough of this," exclaimed Moody once again. "I'm going up there and if I can't talk Potter into running, I'm going to help him do some killing!"

"Mister Moody, sir?" came the soft voice of Hermione. When the old wizard's electric-blue eye swiveled around to glare at her, she continued, "Given what we've already seen, do you really think that Harry's going to listen to you at all, or do you think you'll just be getting in Harry's way?"

Wheeling around to shout at the girl, the old Auror was about to give her a piece of his mind, when his blue eye happened to glance back up at the raging battle between Harry and You-Know-Who, and it gave him enough pause to actually bother thinking about his answer. When he couldn't even come up with one, he deflated and just stood there, looking up with all the others. At least he had the advantage of his eye, that included telescopic range on top of ultra-high clarity.


	4. The Fight Part 2

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe.

Summary: A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Priest, and Spy.

Story:

Practically growling at the sorry state things had become, Harry poured even more of the ambient surrounding magic into fueling his attack, even as he completed the forms and diagrams for his next spell and turned another half of his attention to gathering his inner magic towards powering it now. Then he glanced up and allowed a fraction of attention towards Voldemort to see what he was planning.

One thing Harry was now quite thankful for was that Joshua had taken out the connection he shared with the Dark Lord. For starters, it cut down on nightmares, and while the loss of Intelligence from literally being inside the head of his enemy was unfortunate, the trade-off for not being plagued by distracting visions whenever Voldemort became the slightest bit upset was worth it in the end.

The snake man wizard seemed to be biding his time for the moment, maintaining his defenses, and unfortunately doing a better than average job of it. It took all Harry's spare power and then some just to keep the bastard from trying to advance despite the onslaught of raw magical power that the _Kamehameha_ was pouring down on the Dark Lord's head. And while Harry would've loved to have been able to blast the snake man even further back, or even into the next continent, it was all he could do to keep him back the same distance.

On Voldemort's side of things, he was becoming more and more impressed with his young foe. Due to the simple and very eschewed fact that he mistakenly believed that the magical attack Harry was using on him was a highly advanced spell. Little did the Dark Lord realize, even as he tried to decipher the spell components, that once they knew _how_ to do it, even a 2nd Year student could perform a flawless copy of the attack. They would not be able to make it last more than a second or two, and even fully grown wizards would have trouble powering the spell, but practically anybody would be _able_ to do it.

Fortunately for Harry, Voldemort had also reached the end of his rope, as it were, since being hit by the attack spell, he had steadily increased and finally exhausted every single one of his defensive spells, charms, and even some rapidly completed rune work, but every time he came up with a new defense to it, there was a surge along the beam and he would almost be sent flying back all over again. It was all the Dark Lord could do just to remain at the point he was already pushed back to without going further back, let alone moving forward or casting a counter-offensive.

Nevertheless, no matter how powerful Potter had become, the once Tom Riddle was certain of one thing, he had more experience, he was more powerful, and Potter was still just a boy. Preconceptions that the unfortunate man would very soon be questioning.

Once Harry had completed the spell-construction, he slowly let the kamehameha beam filter out, not stopping all at once but over the space of a minute allowing it to fade completely. Voldemort, obviously, came to the incorrect assumption that the boy had just finally ran out of power, and wanting to savor his victory and rub it into the upstarts face was what kept him from flying straight forward to kill him as quickly as possible.

So imagine the surprise in the snake-wizard's face when he saw Harry still floating there, looking as smug, cool, and in-control as ever. He didn't even seem the slightest bit out of breath! His hands in fact were still glowing blue with magical energy.

Voldemort did a double-take, and confirmed that Harry's hands were glowing with magical build-up!

What defenses Voldemort had relaxed, he instantly brought back to full-bear and saved his words of victory until after he figured out what Potter was up to!

Keeping the name of the spell silent, especially since all of the actual spell work was done mentally anyway, Harry connected the pattern and completed the casting, allowing him to perform the spell as many times as necessary until he released said pattern. Holding his glowing hands together before him, the blue light seemed to fuse and then shift into a long arch of solid energy. Held with his hands at the point in the middle, one might associate the image of him holding some kind of weapon made of pure magic. When Harry raised his arms before him, right fully extended, left tucked into it until he pulled his left hand back to his chin it became quite clear exactly what kind of weapon it was the Boy Who Lived was about to use on the Dark Lord.

Drawing in all of the available 'light' magic and anything else he could without unbalancing the whole thing, Harry formed the Arrow of Light between his hands and fit it into the magic archery bow, aiming straight for Voldemort's center mass.

"I'd love to explain to you how I'm even doing all this, and how this spell works, and then go into further detail on just exactly what it's going to do to you," Harry shouted over to his enemy, "but I kind of put myself on a time limit here and we're running just a touch behind. So maybe next time!"

With that, Harry shot the Arrow of Light and all anybody else saw was a streaking flash and then a large explosion against Voldemort's shield, which had finally cracked but amazingly was still whole.

Voldemort himself was beginning to have the first doubts he'd entertained since long before he was reborn. His only hope now was that the spell the young wizard had just used was an 'All or Nothing' shot and could only be used once. When the Dark Lord looked up and saw boy already firing a second shot, he only had enough time for the thought, '_So much for hope..._'

The second explosion was just as large as the first and this one almost broke the silvery snake-shield to pieces, and by this point it was more than obvious that the only thing holding it together was Voldemort's own magic. Why the dark wizard wasn't shooting back scores of curses already, nobody one the ground could guess, but Voldemort came from the old school of magic, and Harry and he both knew that he could only cast back with the minimum of wand movements if not the full incantations. Harry was performing wandless magic after silent spell after high-level battle magic without even showing the strain of doing so. Aside from the morale dampener, it was also a tactical advantage that Voldemort couldn't match under the circumstances.

"Last chance Tom!" Harry screamed, already having a third Arrow at the ready, holding back only to taunt his enemy. "Leave now and swear to never attack any of my family or friends ever again, and I will allow you to do so! Anything other than immediate compliance removes that offer from the table forever! Attack me, or any of mine, and suffer the consequences!"

"Fool!" Voldemort shouted as he peeked behind his shield just long enough to cast the Death Curse.

Before he was even halfway through the wand motion, the fourth Arrow had exploded against Voldemort's only real defense and that had finally destroyed the barrier, and so that left Voldemort with either retreating with his Death Eaters, or dodging and weaving like Harry had done earlier, while he tried his hardest to get a clear shot at the boy. As fast as those spells moved, Voldemort knew from what he'd seen that they could only be fired one at a time, giving him some leeway.

When Harry then began to fire first two, then five, then ten, fifteen, twenty-five, fifty, ONE HUNDRED Arrows at a time, practically flooding the sky with shooting projectiles that Voldemort could not defend against, the Dark Lord began to wonder if he really knew anything at all about his enemy.

When Harry finally stopped firing, Voldemort was over five hundred yards away, and yet the pair of eternal enemies could see and understood what the other was saying just fine. Voldemort had not escaped the barrage of Arrows unscathed, and as he was just beginning to notice, those Arrows of Light were not just magical conjurations. There were multiple tears and rips along his robes and his left arm had at least three scrapes along it while his right leg had scrapes along his shin while there had been a full puncture through the thigh and another through his abdomen, not to mention that he was sweating and ironically there was a scratch along his right temple that would leave a scar if not treated soon.

Breathing heavily, Voldemort screamed back at the wizard he was only just beginning to realize was no longer a boy by any stretch of the imagination. "What's the matter Potter? Running out of juice? I thought you said you'd kill me if I didn't _comply_ with _your_ orders!"

"I told you, Tommy Boy," replied Harry, "that you had one chance to retreat and agree to never target any of my friends or those I call family. And that if you attacked me, you had to suffer the consequences. Before that, I told you that my entire goal in this battle is not to kill you, but to ram it into your thick skull that you are no longer allowed to take anything that does not belong to you, especially anything of mine."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Seems I've almost gotten my point across. I killed you once, or near-enough, by doing nothing more than letting your own lack of understanding and mistake do the work for me. And I think I have just demonstrated, by one of the absolute _simplest_ spells that I have in my arsenal that I can match you power-wise, perhaps even more so as I was fighting you with less than a tenth of my power behind that attack. I'm likewise sure you've already figured out that my entire point of wasting that much power in a single attack was just a distraction while I silently and motionlessly completed the spell that brought injury to the Dark Lord. A spell that I have only used to one tenth of it's true potential, _IF_ THAT!"

"So here's the new deal Moldy-Wart!" growled Harry as he dispelled and released the pattern of the Arrow of Light spell, "I can kill you right here and now and send you right back to that formless existence and see what happens when I kick over the Death Eater anthill. Probably something a lot like what happened almost fifteen years ago, only with Dumbledore dead at least the Traitor will go to Azkaban this time. OR! I can beat you to within an inch of your life and let you limp back to your 'loyal supporters'," Harry mocked, "with the knowledge that no matter what you do you can _NEVER_ beat me! Or, you can run now and tell them whatever lies you want to about how I'm still alive and you ran away. Unlike with your victims, I'll allow you this much; Your Choice."

"Fool," the snake man hissed, and then he Disapparated, popping away in a poof of black smoke.

Only to Apparate silently directly behind Harry with his wand already halfway through the motions of casting the Death Spell, much too close for the boy's ghost-defense to work this time. "_Avada--_"

As though it were moving on its own, Harry's wand was suddenly in his hand and spun around faster than should've been possible. Both only caught glimpses of how it happened, but the end result nevertheless was that Harry's Holly and Phoenix feather wand shot out golden flames from its tip that first of all knocked Voldemort back for a loop, but more importantly broke and shattered the borrowed wand Voldemort had been using in the fight so far.

After that, the pair simply hovered there in the air, Harry staring back at his arch-nemesis with a look of dull disappointment and boredom. A look that Tom Riddle hadn't seen since the one time he got a less-than-O grade in Dumbledore's Transfiguration class in his First Year at Hogwarts. Voldemort hated that look.

With a howl of frustration, Voldemort retreated, Disapparating and this time not coming back.

Harry Potter let out a heavy sigh of relief and then very quickly flew back down to the ground where his friends awaited him, and an explanation. This was not going to be fun.

_4 Privet Drive_

_Little Whinging, Surrey_

_Backyard_

Harry's reception as he silently landed in the moonlight lit backyard where everyone stood, mouths agape in shock. He waited until his feet were firmly on the ground before dispelling the Lighthawke Wings, not to mention the half a dozen other spells he still had active, including the _Stone Skin_ spell, the _Impervius_ spell for the wind, and even his Gate had been left open, yet now closed.

Once the drain on his magic was released, Harry nearly collapsed in relief, but settled for allowing himself to breath harder and show how much he was sweating, which of course caused a few concerned gasps to be heard from the crowd before him. He remained on his feet at least.

"Harry..." Lupin tried to say something, but didn't know what, so he stopped there.

"Harry..." repeated Hermione, her voice quaking with confusion and a bit of fear.

"That's my name, don't wear it out," joked the Boy Who Was Beyond Exhausted.

He got a laugh out of the twins at least, which brought Mad-Eye's expression into his view as they'd been standing behind the Ex-Auror. The scarred man looked practically livid, yet bursting with curiosity at the same time, so Harry decided to nip this in the bud sooner rather than later.

"Look, I know we're on a time limit, but at least now the skies are clear, though there's still a risk of being followed if not attacked," cautioned Harry. "You also mentioned that we'll be using Portkeys to get to the final destination. That being said, do you want me to answer all your questions sitting around here... or at the Burrow?"

Mad-Eye growled and looked to be debating it himself for several minutes until finally he just nodded and turned to the awaiting brooms and other flying accoutrements.

"Oh, and if you guys want to use my hair now, I don't have a problem with that," offered the now demure young wizard, actually offering a tuft of freshly-plucked hair.

"Hurry it up!" growled Moody, and very quickly all of the 'decoys' took the tuft, put it into their own vials of Polyjuice potion, drank it and once the change was complete, they pulled out the sack of clothes and glasses and without preamble put them on as quickly as possible.

Within minutes they were all airborne. Hagrid was driving the real Harry in Sirius' flying motorcycle, Bill had the transformed Fleur on the Thestral, while all the other pairs were on brooms. Just as the transformed Mundungus was getting on behind Mad-Eye though, the real Harry glanced sharply at his doppleganger, but didn't do anything at the moment.

That at least answered the question, in Harry's mind, of who told Voldemort about the date change and how they did it. Taking a closer look just before they took off, Harry recognized Snape's signature in the _Imperius curse_ that Mundungus was under. The only surprising thing was why just an informant, why not a saboteur or a suddenly 'fully trustworthy' mole? It bore further thought that Harry didn't feel like getting into at the moment, but he did, just after take-off cast an inhibiting spell that would prevent Mad-Eye and Mundungus' Portkey from working at all. It wouldn't do for Snape to know his true location.

The flight to Tonks' Parents' house was thankfully uneventful, but Harry's fight lasted longer than it should've and they were pressed for time if not for the 'Dragon Fire' booster than Hagrid revealed to him. They had to push it twice to get there in time, almost tearing the sidecar off from the stress, but Harry was quick to act with a _Reparo_ when it got too wobbly.

Almost literally in the nick of time, Hagrid and Harry landed in the Tonks' backyard, leaving the flying motorcycle behind for the time being. Harry paused and stared at Andromeda Tonks, Nymphadora's mother, for a few seconds, but the hairbrush was already glowing and he didn't have time to ask questions as he and Hagrid grabbed it and then vanished with a pop.

His feet landed on the side of the hill in front of the Burrow, home of the Weasley clan, but thankfully he didn't land on his ass this time. Tonks, Ron, Fred and Mr. Weasley were already there waiting, and after a brief quiz on 'Prove you're You' they all breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Mrs. Weasley tried to bring them all in for some food, but Harry decided to wait for the others.

About a minute later, Lupin and George popped in, followed another minute later by Kingsley and Hermione. Mad-Eye and Mundungus would've been the last to Portkey in, but obviously they never made it, and Fleur and Bill were coming directly to the Burrow on their Thestral. Once they had arrived, Harry finally decided to acquiesce to Mrs. Weasley's demands to bring everyone inside for some food.

Once everyone was seated at the table with some food in hand, at least, all attention turned to Harry. Harry, for the large part, ignored it and the moment he saw Ginny again, he smiled and gave her a strong hug, though he just managed to stop himself from kissing her as well. The red haired witch just smiled strangely at him, then made sure to sit next to him at the table and likewise made sure he had plenty of food on his plate.

Before he could even put the first biscuit to his lips however, Lupin barked out the question they were all thinking, "Harry! What the blazes happened back there? I... You... The things you did... It was all completely impossible! How did you do all that? Where did you learn it from? Who taught you?"

Looking a bit stunned at the rapid-fire questions, Harry stared for a second and then put his food back down and commented, "What? I can't even have something to eat first? Besides, wouldn't it be better to wait for Mad-Eye to get back? That way you can get intimidation into your interrogation techniques too."

"Harr-rry!" whined Hermione in that tone of hers.

He let out a heavy sigh, and answered, "Fine."

Thankfully, before he could really begin, there was the sound of someone falling off a broom from outside, then Mad-Eye Moody burst into the Weasley kitchen, magic and normal eyes both focused only on Harry's position, and he hobbled around to the opposite side of the table from where Harry was sitting and glared at the sixteen year old. Ginny gulped and suddenly regretted sitting next to her boyfriend while he was facing down Mad-Eye's rage.

"Oh, there you are Alastor," greeted Harry in a manner disturbingly familiar to Dumbledore's. "We were just about to start without you. Care for some of Mrs. Weasley's cooking? I guarantee, it's the best I've ever had. Especially her corned-beef."

"TALK!" ordered Moody as he sat down.

Harry shrugged, this time purposely picking up his biscuit and taking a large bite and chewing for a bit. Then, once he'd chewed enough, he took a big gulp of water from his cup and swallowed. Only then did Harry, much to everyone's annoyance, answer with, "Talk about what? The weather? How my day went? My eventual wedding plans with Ginny?"

The mentioned redhead sitting next to him froze on the spot as her face flushed a brilliant red. Nobody else seemed to think it funny or amusing in the slightest though.

"How did you do that? You've been in Hagrid's care for more than an hour now, and that's the first time you've drunk a sip of anything since before we got to your house, so you're not on Polyjuice and you're not a transfigured puppet either, so you're the same Harry Potter than just thrashed the dickens out of You-Know-Who! Now out with it! How did you do that?!"

Shrugging, Harry casually reminded the Ex-Auror, "You forgot golems, plastic surgery, human transfiguration, and a dark magic doppleganger. But I can see how you would dismiss those as almost all of them would require extensive access to me beforehand."

"BOY!" growled Moody.

"I used a nearly extinct branch of magic that has several different titles, but to not put too fine a point on it, I call it _Battle Magic_," explained Harry. "As you can tell from its name, every single spell that falls under this branch is designed around and for use in battle and war. Where, how, and who I learned it from are things that I cannot and will not tell you. And before you interrupt, allow me to explain why."

Harry then waited a full minute, glaring at Moody, Lupin, and everyone in between before finally continuing. "I caught Voldemort and his Death Eaters by surprise today. That's the _only_ reason that I won. Also, every single one of those spells that I used... they're big, they're flashy, and above all else they make it look like I have more power than I probably do. While still effective, there were at least another three spells that I could've performed or cast that would've wiped out every single Death Eater and sent Moldy-Shorts back to Limbo in the space of a single minute. But I didn't use those, even though I could've."

Harry paused once again, letting them all grasp the idea and let it sink in.

"If Tom really knew what I was capable of, if he even had a hint that it was Battle Magic that I was using against him, first of all he wouldn't be as surprised, and second of all he would've been more prepared. Battle Magic is not perfect and it's not one hundred percent effective all of the time either. So, with that being said, the fewer people who know the answers to those kind of questions, the better. That means fewer people that can be tortured for information, or, heaven forbid, let slip the information to an unknown spy or traitor."

Moody grunted, acknowledging the points the young wizard had made.

"Still doesn't explain how Snape knew the date had been changed though," wondered the Ex-Auror.

"Did you bring Mundungus with you?" asked Harry.

Moody's expression changed to murderous, so Harry quickly stepped in.

"One of the skills that Battle Magic forces you to learn is the ability to see and perceive magic in all forms, from a magical object, a spell being cast at you, or the presence of an _Imperius Curse_ on another person. I'm also familiar enough with Snape to recognize his signature."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" exclaimed Lupin. "Mundungus was the one to suggest that we use Polyjuice potion to create decoys. What would be the point? What's the purpose for Snape to have him do that? How does it help him? Or You-Know-Who?"

Arching an eyebrow at the new information, Harry considered for a moment, before answering, "I have a theory, but it's still too new and not worth mentioning at this point. Is Mundungus here or not?"

"I left him at my house, chained to the post so I knew where to find him later. Especially when our Portkey failed. I know we were on time. But now that I know Mundungus is under Snape's heel, it makes perfect sense. I made sure I wasn't followed though, so no one following, on broom or anywhere else made it here after me," said Moody.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that," apologized Harry. "I knew back at Privet Drive that Mundungus was under Snape's control, so I kind of made it so that when you guys got to your Portkey, the spell would be canceled instead. I don't like the idea of Snape having a clue about where I am, even if we know who the leak is now. Don't kill him though. He might still be useful."

Moody just nodded.

Suddenly, everyone else sensing the heavy talk was done with, the table exploded with loud conversation, most begging Harry to explain what he'd done, others asking what it was that Harry did, and the twins and Ron going on about how cool Harry was for having done it at all!

And dinner was just getting started.

_The Burrow_

_Two hours after Midnight_

_Ron & Harry's Room_

"Come in Hermione," said Harry before the girl could even knock on the door. "You too Ginny, you're welcome here as well."

It was the middle of the night and aside from himself, Ron, Hermione, and apparently Ginny, everybody else was asleep. All of the other members of the Order, that didn't currently live at the Burrow, had left hours ago, still unable to get a full answer out of Harry, but for some odd reason feeling comfortable about it. It was a lot like having Dumbledore back, with his mysterious understanding of more than what anyone could know.

The girls quietly stepped into the room and equally silent, shut the door behind them. They found Ron sitting on his bed staring open faced between themselves and Harry, while Harry sat like a leader on a throne in a rickety piece of wood that Ron called a chair.

"How'd you do that mate?" whispered Ron after a minute of staring.

"I'll get to that," assured Harry. "Take a seat girls, this is going to take a while."

"Harry, what happened to you?" demanded Hermione the instant that she sat down on the second bed, facing her friend. "Ron and I _know_ that Dumbledore was _not_ teaching you Battle Magic, and I've had time to actually look up a few of those spells I saw you use in my collection. Those were powerful and very high-level spells. There's now way you could've pulled them off without at least practicing them for more than a year in some cases! And Elemental Summons?!"

"Uh, yeah, about that..." began the flustered wizard. He let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair before looking each of them in the eye. "I trust you. All three of you. I trust you more than anyone else in this world. In some cases I even trust you more than I trust myself." He gave a shy little grin to Ginny, who returned it with a soft blush. "Having said that, there are some things that you don't know about me. Not because I haven't wanted to tell you!"

Seeing that he'd forestalled their objections, he continued, "These things were things I didn't even know about myself until very recently. Very recently being since _after_ the last time that I spoke or saw any of you. So please appreciate that this is the first opportunity where I've had to speak with any of you alone and I am going to tell you and explain to you exactly what it is that's happened."

He took a moment to look each in the eye and gage their reaction to what he'd said so far. Hermione was wearing her 'study-lecture mode' face, which she normally bore when paying close attention to whatever the Professors were lecturing about in class. Ron seemed to be, on the large part, freaking out over his friend changing on him all of a sudden, but at the same time there was the maturity of concern and a desire to understand before making any final decision. Ginny was paying the closest attention out of all of them, but was looking over his body sitting there in a tight t-shirt and jogger shorts more than listening. He stifled a chuckle at the raging hormones of the just-turned-16-year-old girl.

"About two weeks ago, give or take a day and some hours, I woke up to find two men in my bedroom." He waited as they gasped in horror, but held up a hand to forestall any questions or statements of caution. "One of them was someone I had met before, when I was eleven years old. The other... was me."

"Huh? You've lost us mate," said Ron.

"The man's name was Joshua, but what's important about him is that he is a Time Wizard. When I was eleven years old, he visited me one night while my Aunt and Uncle were asleep, and explained some things, and then he gave me a choice. I accepted his offer. And here's where things go beyond what any of us learned at Hogwarts. He split me in two."

"What?!"

"Shhhhh!"

"Sorry," blushed Hermione.

"I don't mean he cut me in two, I mean he split me in two," continued Harry before any of them could jump to the wrong conclusions. "Where there was once one Harry Potter, now there were two. Both completely identical down to... well down to the very last detail. Memories, bodies, scar, even magic. Well, actually, my magic was exactly halved but since I had no training in using magic at that point it really made no difference."

"One was left behind to live the life of Harry Potter, go to Hogwarts, face and fight Voldemort over the years and is the person that you all grew up knowing. The other was taken with Joshua to a different world. And I don't mean like the muggle world or the world of the Elves. A Pocket Dimension that was in turn connected to various other Realms, and that Harry Potter was trained from the age of 11 to the age of 16 in the practice and use of Battle Magic. Two weeks ago, that Harry Potter and Joshua the Time Wizard popped into the room of this world's Harry Potter, and at exactly midnight of that night, they were put back together. Into me. The _real_ Harry Potter."

"So... you're not our Harry?" asked Ron, confused.

Snorting out a laugh, Harry shook his head. "I am Ron. I am 'your' Harry, but I'm also more than that. I'm like Harry Plus. I know everything that both of the Harry's did like I did it myself, and from my point of view, I did. I'm still your Harry Potter, just with some extra stuff thrown in. Good stuff, I promise."

"Well at least you're not worrying yourself sick like you were at the End-of-Year," commented Ginny with a warm smile.

"So you remember what Dumbledore told you about..." suddenly Ron stopped speaking and glanced worriedly at Ginny.

"Like I said," replied Harry, "I trust _all_ of you. Equally and without reservation. And yes, I do remember what Dumbledore told me about the Horcruxes. I also remember that Joshua coached me on _exactly_ where we can find each and every last one of them. Why do you think I was so eager to fight Voldemort today? I knew we couldn't kill him, and if he's in Limbo when his Horcruxes are destroyed, he's _still_ in Limbo and we have to resurrect him all over again to finally be rid of the blighter. I can kill Voldemort at absolutely any time that I want to. In over four dozen different ways, not all of them through spells by the way. But I was only fused back together again less than a month ago. And aside from the memories, skills, and knowledge that came with it, came a boatload of extra magic! My core, which used to be cores as in plural, has only recently finished reintegrating."

"What that means," explained Harry, "is that instead of just having twice as much magic available for spells, my capacity for magic has _exponentially doubled_ from what it used to be when I was at Hogwarts, AND from when I was off training in Battle Magic. With wizard magic, that means I have over twice the power behind each spell, and I can cast every spell more than twice as many times as I used to. With Battle Magic, it is vital that you be able to consciously control the flow of magic as it must all be done without a wand, thus forcing you to focus your magic with your mind rather than through your wand. With such an exponential increase, my control was shot to hell and it took me two weeks to get back to my current level. Which, by the way, is actually a low level compared to what I used to have. While I didn't have the power to do the big stuff for very long, I was damn impressive when I was at the top of my game. Way I figure it, it'll be another week or so before I'm back to my true skill level. Unless I work overtime on it that is."

"Bloody hell," hissed Ron as the implications began to sink in.

"I suppose we should wait until you are at your true strength then before we go and gather the Horcruxes," surmised Hermione as she chewed on her lip, deep in thought.

"I would appreciate that. While I managed to take the Death Eaters by surprise today, I don't want to risk running into an ambush or any kind of trap unless I'm at the top of my game. But that might take too long as it is, so ready or not, as soon as I turn 17, we're outta here in four days."

"Five days," corrected Ron.

"Huh?"

"Bill and Fleur's wedding is in five days, and you know they're going to want you to be there," answered the redhead.

"Damn," winced Harry. "Oh well. An extra day can't hurt. And we need days of relaxation, otherwise you can burnout on stress. Believe me, I know half of me was less than a month from going suicidal and trying to take on every Death Eater in the world by himself. First thing I did after fusing, I went to an abandoned park and destroyed practically everything. Then I daydreamed about torturing the Dursleys with the Cruciatus every time they even spoke to me and treated the whole summer like one big vacation. Helped me get things back in perspective I suppose."

"Harry," asked Hermione after an uncomfortable silence as Harry described his summer vacation so far, "why are you telling us all this? It sounds a bit outrageous to be quite honest."

Harry just shrugged, and replied, "I trust you. All of you."

"But you didn't tell the others, or anyone else in the Order," said Ron. "Why tell us anything at all? Why not just say you and Dumbledore had been studying it in secret? What's the catch?"

"The catch," said Harry as he leaned back against the headboard of his bed, "is that none of that would be true. And you would know that. And that would drive a wedge between us, a wedge that we don't need, seeing as we're going to be depending upon each other until we finally defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters. I don't want that to happen, and I'm sure you don't either. To be quite blunt about it, I trust you because from now until Voldemort is defeated, we're all going to be the _only_ people that we're going to be talking with for an unknown amount of time."

"What d'you mean?" asked Ron, confused.

"When we leave, Ron, it's just going to be us. We're not going to be staying in touch with the Order, or the Ministry, or even any of our friends or your family. We are literally going to be the only faces we're going to see for the next, however many months, maybe even years that it's going to take for us to destroy all of the Horcruxes. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's the reason I'm telling you all of this now."

"The Order has potential leaks, ways that Voldemort might be able to extract the information about what has happened to me, where and how I learned my skills, even what out mission about the Horcruxes is," Harry pushed himself back to the edge of the bed and continued. "I can't afford to trust the Order or the Ministry, or anyone outside of my range of influence. You lot won't be talking to anyone but me until this whole mess has blown over, so I'd say that boosts your reliability from Very Trustworthy, to Solid Safe. It's not the nice way of saying it, but it's the cold hard truth of it."

"So, you have a plan about how to get the Horcruxes?" spoke Hermione after a heavy minute of silence.

"That's the easy part," assured Harry. "Hard part is taking care of every _other_ Dark Wizard that's following Moldy-Shorts around. So far I've been able to figure out two strategies. All-Out War. Or letting them take control of the Ministry and taking them out faction by faction."

"Harry, honestly! You cannot be serious!" exclaimed Hermione.

Harry shrugged, looking a bit sheepish. "Much as we want to believe it, and however much the analogy would fit, cutting off the head of the snake does _not_ solve all our problems. Killing Voldemort for good is an objective, not the solution. Unfortunately, I don't have enough information to formulate any other strategies that would work out in the long run."

"Well, we'll help you out there," promised Ron, Hermione and Ginny a second behind him.

"Thanks guys, I appreciate that. For the time being, just stick to acting normal and get all your things together. Day after the wedding, as in the minute after midnight of the wedding, we're off and collecting Tommy's toys. I'll get you what I can, but for the next week or so I'm going to be busy training myself back up to a comfortable level. Right now I feel hopelessly out of shape as it is."

"But Harry, what about Ginny? She has to go back to Hogwarts," pointed out Hermione.

Immediately the two sides of Harry's psyche found the first point on which they disagreed. Wizard-Harry wanted Ginny to stay safe and out of harms way and hunting for Horcruxes was going _into_ harms way. Warrior-Harry on the other hand didn't want to let Ginny out of his sight. He'd had experiences with losing friends and people close to him before and had long ago come to the conclusion that the only way to absolutely guarantee their safety was to keep them with him at all times. Better to be able to protect them and save them rather than hear about the danger and being too far away to do anything about it.

For an instant, the two sides almost agreed to disagree, but then Hedwig, all of a sudden, flew in through the open window of the room and noisily landed on the perch next to Ron's owl, Pig. Wizard-Harry recalled that Joshua had told young eleven year old Harry that one of the casualties that would have been was Hedwig, while Warrior-Harry remembered what had happened to his last Familiar and how it had given its life for his in a battle that could have been avoided if only he'd kept her with him. Just like that the conflict vanished.

"I've changed my mind," he said. "Hogwarts does not have Dumbledore any longer and therefore it is no longer safe from Voldemort. Ginny, you mean too much to me for me to see you any place other than absolutely safe. Before, I had thought that was out of harms way and because I'm a target that meant being away from me."

"Well, now the safest place that I can possibly imagine you being is by my side where I can protect you and at the very least help you to learn how to protect yourself. I'm not letting you out of my sight for longer than necessary, and if you want to come with us when we leave... you're more than welcome to join us. If you want to go back to Hogwarts, or simply don't want to come with us then..."

Harry couldn't say another word. Mostly due to the fact that Ginny had launched herself from her seat and was now quite comfortable in Harry's arms kissing the hell out of him. When she finally let up so they could breath, he asked in cavalier tone, "I take it that means yes, you'd like to come?"

She just kissed him again.

This time, Harry kissed her back.

"I hope they're not going to be doing that all of the time," commented Ron with a hint of disgust at watching his sister make-out with his best friend.

"Oh Ron, honestly," sighed an exasperated Hermione.


	5. Vacation at the Burrow

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe.

Summary: A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.

Story:

_The Burrow_

_The Next Day_

The very next morning opened up to the typical Weasley breakfast, which is to say that Molly Weasley had been overstressed from the night before and tried to work it out through cooking way too much food. Even for Ron, Fred, George, and Bill who were all used to the large meals. Harry ate his fill and then some, and then went out into the garden to meditate on his magic control while everybody else finished up.

Because of the wards and other protections put up by the Order, he couldn't go very far from the house, and definitely not into the rolling hills, which is where he might've gotten the most privacy. So, for the time being, he settled for the orchard behind the garden, where the garden gnomes were usually tossed when the Weasley children were tasked with de-gnoming the garden.

Settling in against a tree, his back against it and facing away from the Burrow, Harry crossed his legs and began to breath and turned his focus inward, towards the core of his magic. Once he was sufficiently focused, he set about reestablishing the paths for his magic to flow within his body, and to both limit and expand it as he did so. Judging from his current status, he was still only at about sixty percent to completing the new paths since the fusion had more than doubled his power.

While he could use his magic at full potential, and cast high-level spells as well as any low-level spell without any difficulty, the lack of proper and stabilized paths throughout his body for the magic to flow through did affect him. In comparison, it's like when a trained fighter lets himself go and loses his edge, he still knows how to fight and can still perform the moves that were ingrained into his muscle memory, but he's just a hair slower than when he first learned it, and a lot slower than the other fighter that did not lose his edge. Much the same way, Harry's sudden increase in magic made the established paths he once had utterly useless as they couldn't handle the sheer amount he'd be pushing through his body, which could then cause the spell to either perform at less than full effectiveness, or even malfunction in some way, but mostly it affects how well he can access his Skills and in using them to full effect.

Battle Magic, as had been taught to him... well, half of him, was comprised of five categories, or Skill sets, all of which depend upon the same five necessary aspects. Furthermore, Battle Magic was designed and is meant to be used in the middle of war with you against everybody and no definitive way of determining friend from foe without better than average skill, or lots of experience. Battle Magic cannot be limited by the use of a wand. Enhanced by, most definitely yes, but with normal wizardry, if you lose your wand, you can no longer use magic until you get a new one somewhere.

If you're in the middle of a fight to the death, you can't have the luxury of bowing out because your weapon broke, or calling time-out while you get a new one. Therefore, over ninety percent of the spells that fall under the classification of Battle Magic are wandless and silent spells. Particularly the complicated ones.

The simple ones, a single hand movement and a single word and you're shooting down massive destruction, but they have limits and you need more power than most to get past those limits without resorting to a more complex spell.

There are hand-seals that are used, but the spells aren't _dependent_ upon them being used. Battle Magic requires the spell patterns be arranged in ones mind in order to focus the direction and effect of the spell. Hand-seals, however, are more like mnemonic devices. Each seal representing in the Battle Mage's mind a specific pattern, and when used in conjunction with other seals the end result is an entirely unique pattern taking hold in the mind for the magic to focus through.

Those that are truly gifted in Battle Magic can create the patterns without the need of seals and can create the patterns in their mind from scratch, but such people are rare and even they use seals more often than not. The more complex the spell, the more you have to silently create the patterns in your mind before being able to cast anything. Mastering all the Skills of Battle Magic is no small feat after all, given how extensive it is.

Wizardry, by its very design, changes all that pattern-imagining into simplified wand-movements combined with exact words. The real reason '_Expecto Patronum_' is so advanced isn't because of what it does, because despite all the work put in it, it's not just waving the wand and saying the words. You need as much a mental aspect as with any silent spell, perhaps even more so than with almost any other 'lesser' spell in wizardry.

Battle Magic on the other hand, is entirely in the mind and it depends greatly on being able to focus your magic yourself, _without a wand_ to do it for you. And like wizardry, which has _Charms_, _Potions_, _Transfiguration_, _Dark Arts_, and _Defensive Arts_, Battle Magic too has it's own branches, of which Harry classified as a Master in all of, before merging with his Wizard half. The ranks are important too, but since Harry is a Master in all branches of Battle Magic, it's kinda moot to go into that at this time.

The first and most basic of all categories, or _Skills_ in Battle Magic is Direct Magic Manipulation. Where wizardry and many other branches of magical study consider this to be highly advanced, because of Battle Magic's need of developing an internal focus of controlling magic, it makes it the simplest to master.

Direct Magic Manipulation is when the user focuses his, or her, magic in such a way that the energy becomes visible and tactile, instead of creating effects in the reality around it, the spell _is_ the effect. Some examples would be the Hadoken, Kamehameha, and Sonic Boom spells that Harry cast in his battle with the Death Eaters and Voldemort. Direct Magic Manipulation is _Energy Blasts_ in other words.

The second Skill in Battle Magic is _Elemental Magic_. Instead of focusing the magic to create it's own effect on reality, the user focuses the effects of the spells through the different elements. And make all the noise you want about _which_ elements, it all boils down to a mixture in the end, starting from Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Lightning, which is also a subdued form of Plasma, just as ever-present as the other four. All others are a mixture of these to one degree or another, and focusing on a single element limits you unnecessarily, so Harry made sure that he mastered them as such, both the Primaries, and their mixtures.

Third Skill is _Mind Magic_ and is arguably the most dangerous of all the Skills to focus on in Battle Magic. Legilimency and Occlumency are the wizardry answers to this Skill set; attacking and defending a mind from magical attack. In Battle Magic, there is no limit to where your battlefield is, nor to where it could be, and it is just as likely to have to fight a war within one's own head as with the body on some dueling platform. There are no spells in Mind Magic, only the understanding of what you can and are capable of doing when you are placed in the Astral Plane, where there are few, if any limits. In many ways it is far more complicated than the studies of Legilimency and Occlumency, but the end result is far more freeing as those fields have strict structured ways of performing their function, while Mind Magic seeks to undo all limitations.

The fourth Skill of Battle Magic is Dimensional Field Manipulation, or _Real Magic_. Real as in "Reality" and "Realization". Because in this Skill of Battle Magic, the ability to form the spell patterns in one's mind is key to doing anything at all. After all, there are many forms of spells and ways of manipulating magic that have nothing to do with the elements, or making magic appear as a physical force. Everything from teleporting, or Apparating to the average wizard, to conjuring objects out of thin air, to even basic telekinesis, all of it falls under this category. It's also why, unless they need a very specific "weapon", most users of Battle Magic will resort to wizardry or other forms of magical use rather than rely too heavily upon this Skill. Nevertheless, Harry is just as much a Master of this Skill as he is with the others, perhaps more so in some ways.

The last and most dangerous Skill in Battle Magic is the Art of _Summoning Magic_. Why it's so dangerous is because in order to even practice Summoning Magic, the user needs to establish a Magical Contract with a race or species of magical creature. And it can only be magical creatures... even if they're just talking toads, they have to be magical on some level.

To date, since the creation of the branch within Battle Magic, there has never been a magic-user that did, let alone _could_ make a Magical Contract with more than a single race of magical creature. For a large part, when the other races find out that he or she already has a Contract with another race, they'll feel like second-choice and deny it, or simply find them unworthy. And Magical Contracts are not something to take lightly. In the mortal world, an apt comparison would be to that of a verbal agreement between an average person from the street to a criminal kingpin that will extract in blood, sweat, and tears, and even worse if you were to break your word, on either end of the agreement.

Another part of Summoning Magic is the art of establishing a Familiar, a creature (animal, magical, or even human in extreme cases) that is bound to your magic and able to further enhance it, or even allow you to channel your magic through it at a distance. But the large part of having a Familiar is so that it can act as an Avatar for your Summons and be able to transform itself to gain new powers and abilities, and while there is no limit to how many Familiars you can have, it would still be that many creatures you'd have to share magic with.

Hedwig, after his merger, was made into Harry's Familiar. Harry, however, is the first known person to have _two_ Magical Contracts. One with the Dragons. One with the Phoenixes.

And while it's a fascinating story in how he even came to have a Contract with the Dragons, it was decided that using his Gate instead of his Familiar would allow him to Summon forth any Dragon aide he might need, whereas the Contract with the Phoenixes specifically states that he can only summon forth a single Phoenix at a time, once per day, and only through his Familiar, which must also be an avian, or bird.

During this contemplation, Harry had remained perfectly still in the orchard behind the Burrow, silently meditating, and focusing his magic more and more. Given how much _more_ of it there was though, it was going slower than you might think, given the young wizard's uncanny skill with the arts of magic. Even in the past hour of solid meditating and focusing, he'd perhaps gotten maybe three, possibly five percent more if he was really pressed. It used to be that in an hour he would've gotten over ten percent of his maximum capacity mastered and focused properly with half the effort.

Seeing that this was going to take a while either way, and resolving to get himself, at least up to seventy-five percent before stopping for this session, he continued in his focus exercises and allowed his mind to wander to other subjects.

Ginny.

Half of him was very attracted to her. Half of him wished he'd known her longer so he could say he actually loved her. He felt a lot of passion for her, but he likewise knew that he couldn't do anything like that with her. At least not until she was of age and they were both sure of their feelings in the matter.

An interesting, if lopsided contradiction.

Fortunately, neither of Harry's halves were all that intellectual, going with their gut more often than not, and always following their heart. Warrior-Harry, while not exactly free and loose, was not nearly as inexperienced as Wizard-Harry when it came to social, and yes even sexual relations. Of course one having been raised in a Magical Alternate Dimension that had dragons, elves, dwarfs, and hundreds of other magical creatures, and then the other being raised on Earth in a private school setting, albeit one dealing with witches, wizards, trolls, werewolves and magic in general, there's a large difference in environments.

Aside from the miserable one date with Cho Chang, Ginny was Harry's first real girlfriend.

Likewise, Harry could also remember having on-again-off-again relationships with a group of nymphs; Dryads, Nereids, Naiads, and Alseids, a few elves, and once he'd even found himself going on a date with a female centaur!

For some reason though, Warrior-Harry had never felt satisfied in those relationships. Well, perhaps satisfied is the wrong word, because there were times when he was very... uh, satisfied. But they were just brief attractions, momentary distractions to keep him from overworking in his training. And then there had been his Spirit-Walk, a test he had undergone in his bid for a Magical Contract with the Phoenixes. It had been only a brief momentary glance, but he'd seen a flash of warm brown eyes and red hair. It had plagued him for months afterwards and now all of a sudden his mystery woman turns out to be his other half's girlfriend!

On the other side of that coin, Harry was part-confused, part-impassioned, and part-certain beyond all doubt, while part-suspicious too.

During his last year at Hogwarts, between lessons with Dumbledore, dodging the "Slug Club", and being the star of the school in more ways than just a few, quite a few love potions had been cast about. One in particular was a sore memory as it had nearly killed Ron. Well, not directly, but the circumstances behind it almost had.

Thankfully, Ron was just fine, but even reminded of that fact, did not resolve Harry's suspicions regarding a bit of foul play, and some slight of hand that might've resulted in Ginny Weasley slipping him a love potion. Hoping to either bury or revoke those suspicions, he thought back to everything he knew about his girlfriend, seeing if he might find a discrepancy in either his memories, or his feelings, as they could be indication of some unpleasant bewitching going on.

Harry remembered first meeting Ginny at Platform 9 ¾ his first year and only remembered a young girl with red hair and a cute blush. The second year, she was Ron's little sister and he was 12 while she was 11. Third year he'd had to deal with Dementors, Sirius escaping prison and a nationwide manhunt, and while they had talked, Harry just didn't have time for anybody else in his life. Although puberty had definitely started to kick in as he did start noticing girls around that time.

Fourth year, Harry had discovered that his 'type' tended more towards the slender, athletic and petite, given his attraction to Cho and that whole mess that went into his fifth year. Speaking of which, he barely even remembered _anything_ from his fifth year that wasn't a bad memory and better off forgotten. In all honesty, aside from some times in the Gryffindor Common Room, other study sessions, and his summers spent with the Weasleys, he hadn't even a chance to get to know Ginny at all until his sixth year at Hogwarts.

By then, he was the Gryffindor Quidditch Team Captain, she had been playing Seeker in his place for most of the previous year and was now playing as Chaser. She was in her OWL year, while he was gearing up for NEWTs, so they'd both spent an inordinate amount of time studying together, practicing together, and then there was the way she treated him. Not to mention, somewhere between her Fourth and Fifth Years, she had hit a growth spurt of her own as certain body parts grew her from the little girl that was Ron's sister, into a fiery redhead that was very much so Harry's type.

Starting from his third year on, Ginny had stopped looking at him like some schoolgirl-crushing fangirl, like three-quarters of the rest of the school's female population (save Slytherin) were doing, and treated him a lot like she treated her brothers. Which is to say that she didn't act like he was the famous Harry Potter "The Boy Who Lived" and all that crap. She just treated him as Harry, and acted like he was no more special than Ron, Fred, George, or even Percy. True, she still cared about him, and she didn't hide that fact, but it wasn't an obsessive crush.

She was also familiar with the dark side of the wizarding world, having been possessed by the Diary Horcrux in her first year and nearly having the life drained out of her by it. She had stood by his side and supported him through all the rough spots; Sirius dying, Umbridge's oppression, the question of his sanity as he dealt with the visions from Voldemort, all of that and more and instead of questioning him about it, like all his friends, even Ron and especially Hermione did. She just accepted what he said as the truth and then did what she could to help him deal with it, no matter what.

Subconsciously, he had been attracted to her ever since things went south with Cho, and she definitely fit his 'type', with her athletic petite frame, pert b-cup breasts, and that red hair of hers just did something for him, but for the longest time he had trouble _consciously_ getting past her being Ron's baby sister. And it took him getting jealous over Dean to see past it finally.

The last six weeks of school, starting from the Quidditch Final, were the happiest moments of Harry's life at Hogwarts since his first year almost. His suspicions about any use of love potions made him wonder, until he finally remembered the effects of all love potions, to turn those under them into starry-eyed puppies that can only and will only think about the subject of said potion. Unfortunately, Harry's thoughts were quite often on things far less pleasant than kissing and holding Ginny.

It had been an impulsive decision last night when he'd made the offer to bring Ginny with Ron, Hermione and himself on their Horcrux hunt. One that he was still debating within himself. The noble Gryffindor half was adamant about keeping her safe from harm, and that taking her into danger was the absolute last thing he wanted to do. The far more cunning and experienced warrior half was even _more_ adamant that he was not about to let somebody he cared about go anywhere without his protection.

To his Warrior side, it was a simple question; take Ginny with them and take out Voldemort's only advantage in a fight, or go with Ginny to Hogwarts and protect her there while Voldemort knows exactly where to find him while all the Horcruxes remain active? Because either way, he _refused_ to let anyone he cared about risk dying ever again, not while there was something he could do about it.

Wizard-Harry was at a complete loss for several minutes, before finally, he acknowledged that there was more truth and logic in keeping Ginny close. But he didn't want her in danger...

Harry's eyes snapped open as his magic control suddenly leaped to a much higher degree and further inwards he felt another piece of the merger completing. True, they'd been fused, but there were still some things, ideas, memories, portions of their cores that were still integrating and getting used to being one again. It was just a coincidence that it happened at the same time Ginny stepped into view.

Jumping as his eyes opened and locked onto her, Ginny grinned sheepishly and finally just shrugged as she made to sit down beside him. He quickly scooted over to give her room and smiled to say it was OK.

"Mom's looking for you," she said as she sat down against the tree.

"I'll be back in later. I... kind of have some things that need to be done first," explained Harry, even as he continued his silent exercises. It was magic, not some uncontrollable energy, so it doesn't exactly require every ounce of ones being to control it as some might think.

"What kind of things?" asked Ginny. "From that... from what you told us about last night?"

Harry just shrugged and smiled.

"I'm sorry," apologized the girl, blushing bright red, "That was a bit forward wasn't it? I didn't mean to pry or anything, and..."

"Ginny, it's OK," assured the dark-haired youth. "It actually has more to do with Battle Magic than with... what I told you about. Battle Magic, while it lets you use one, requires that you be able to use spells without a wand. Wands, as everybody knows, allows wizards and witches to focus their magic into spells through wand movements and words. So, without a wand, I have to do it a much harder way, through my body and my mind. Requiring me to meditate and focus on controlling my magic directly."

"It's a bit complex but..."

"Can you teach me?" asked Ginny eagerly.

Looking surprised for half a moment, he was about to decline when he actually thought about it for a moment. Teaching her even the most basic of basics of Battle Magic would increase her own power and ability in magic by several magnitudes. Even if she was never able to successfully cast a true Battle Magic spell, the same exercises he was doing right now could allow her to increase the power, speed, and effectiveness of her own spells through wizardry. And it wasn't as if you _had_ to start at age eleven. There were some that Harry knew about who didn't even begin until they were in their late thirties!

Another thing that both sides, of what remained of sides, could agree upon was Ginny being better able to defend herself with magic and fighting skills in general.

"Sure," agreeing quickly he sat himself across from her and asked that she copy him. Then he quickly prompted her through his very first lesson in Battle Magic; Learning how to breathe.

_Another World_

_Another Time_

_5 ½ years ago_

"What do you mean 'learn how to breathe'?" an 11 ½ year old Harry Potter exclaimed of his teacher as they walked through the forest to the glade clearing where they trained each afternoon. "I already know how to breathe! See, I'm doing it now even, otherwise how would I even be alive?"

"Have I told you lately how much your attitude is becoming somewhat cynical?" Joshua asked as he lead the younger boy through the untouched forest around them.

"Yes, I believe you complimented me on it last night after I told you to piss off when you told me to do the dishes for the fifth night in a row," Harry sarcastically retorted. "Now answer my question, what does breathing have to do with me learning magic?"

"Everything, Nothing, and Why," answered the boy's teacher.

"Why what? And that's not an answer!"

"Why not?" replied the older wizard. If he was to be believed, he was actually several _centuries_ old, so that's saying something.

"Why you...!" Harry growled his frustration.

"Why me?"

"Stop that! I swear, if my other half has to put up with buggering crap like this from school, or anyone else, it's a wonder if either of us will still be sane by the time we're seventeen!"

"Doesn't matter, we're here," Joshua pushed past the foliage and stepped into the clearing, Harry right behind him. "Now, do your warm-up exercises, then meet me in the exact center of the clearing. I'll be waiting, and you have to use your senses to find me." With that, the Time Wizard disappeared into thin air, eliciting some annoyed grumblings from his pupil, but Harry quickly went about jogging around the clearing, stretching, doing push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups on branches, and stretched one final time before he started to wander towards the middle of the open grass.

It took him nearly five minutes to calm his mind just enough to open up his aura sight, but he managed to do it and hold it long enough for him to find his teacher, and the center of the clearing. The moment he stopped there, Joshua reappeared right in front of him, smiling his encouragement. Let it be said, the two got on each others nerves like cats and dogs, but they respected each other, and Harry agreed hands down that Joshua was the best friend, best teacher, hell even the best parent he'd ever known. Although he typically acted more like a big brother than a dad most of the time.

"Have a seat," Joshua gestured to the ground, "and we'll continue with your meditation practices. So far, we've been able to get you into a calm state, despite distractions, and you've learned how to focus your thoughts in your mind as well. Now we teach you the proper way to breathe, during meditation, during battle, during exercise, during training. It maximizes the oxygen flow through the body without overfilling the lungs or making the heart waste energy in extra pumps that could likewise be maximized through concentration of effort. You've probably heard this before, but just go with me on this. Breathe in through the nose, breathe out through the mouth. Breathe in through the nose, breathe out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Not big breaths, shallow, simple breaths, so that you have brought in air, but not enough to expand the lungs. Keep practicing until you think you've got it."

"Are you going to make me clasp my hands and pray too?" sarcastically asked Harry, even while his eyes were shut and he entered a meditative trance.

"Shut up and breathe," came the amused reply.

They spent the better part of the afternoon just teaching Harry how to breathe properly during meditation, and then once he finally had gotten it, they didn't let up a bit, having him practice it for another solid three hours. Of course sitting in the middle of a peaceful forest, breathing in the pure fresh air and meditating on breathing is a lot preferable to what he might usually be doing, which would be exercising until he collapsed.

Just an hour before dusk, they stopped and he found out that while the breathing exercises were a change of pace, it didn't stop him from having to work out until he collapsed anyway. Afterwards, they took a nice cool down jog through the forest back to the house, although it really was little more than a small cabin in the woods, and chatted about Harry's training along the way back.

Joshua never hid anything from him. His reasoning being that if Harry was smart enough and mature enough to ask a question, then he was likewise entitled to the answers. Unfortunately, this tended to frustrate Harry more than anything, as Joshua's answers only made sense if he asked the right question. It also allowed Harry to realize that he couldn't begin to learn any spells until he was capable of handling his magic, hence the need to condition his body, mind, and even his magic in some ways that he was only just beginning to learn.

Occasionally though, Joshua would display a technique, or a spell to further motivate Harry to continue to train and to do it right rather than rush along. Once it was decided that he had enough conditioning, Joshua would teach him a spell, and then they would practice it together until he had fully mastered it. So far, Harry had been taught only two spells; aura-sight and the basic shield spell. He hoped that by mastering the breathing exercises in a single day might be enough to earn him another spell.

Sadly, Joshua refused to teach him a new spell so soon. He did, however make it up, at least a little bit, by demonstrating several spells that the breathing exercises would one day allow him to perform.

"OK, here we go," Joshua explained as they stood in front of the cabin, facing the woods. "In addition to helping in meditation, keeping the body at the peak despite physical exertion, and even helping you stay underwater for longer, using those breathing exercises I taught you earlier can help you in employing a rather... unique way of utilizing Elemental Magic. For example, everybody's favorite; breathing fire."

The older wizard then cupped his hands by his mouth and then let out a long, steady breath, that instead came out as a giant flame that might as well have come from a dragon! Then, one by one, he went through each, or at least most of the elements, breathing out a gust of wind that almost had the trees lying flat with the ground, spewing out water like from a fire hose, even creating miniature sandstorms, ice storms, and thunderstorms. That alone reaffirmed Harry's desire to prove his mastery and he even started practicing the breathing exercises during supper, then before bedtime too.

_Present Day_

_The Burrow_

_Back Orchard_

"Very good Ginny," Harry quietly coached her through her first meditation. She'd caught on to the breathing exercises easier than he'd expected, and now he was guiding her through a meditative trance, which would help her to focus her thoughts, hopefully allowing her to cast her spells and focus her magic much better than before.

"Now, I want you to keep breathing just as you are and then I want you to focus your thoughts. Focus your thoughts on all of the spells that you know and have ever cast before. Now I want you to list them, silently, in your head, alphabetically, according to the spells name. Not the words to cast them, the spells name."

Ginny opened her eyes to glare at him, but he just kept staring at her, so she sighed, and then closed her eyes and resumed the proper breathing pattern while she attempted to focus her thoughts as he asked. "Good. Keep at it. Once you finish the list, go back over it as many times as you have to until you can remember all of your spells in alphabetical order without even having to think about it. Don't look at me like that Ginny. I had to do this when I was _thirteen_ the first time, and while I had a lot more practice with meditating and breathing before then, it made the task no easier or faster. And this much I can promise you, after you've completed this, you'll find it a lot easier to recall all of your spells, for everything, whether you're in a fight, or even just helping your mum clean up around the house."

Once he felt Ginny was sufficiently focused, Harry, using skills that were part Dursley-inspired, part Battle Magic stealth training, and part sneaking out after curfew under the invisibility cloak, got up and silently went back to the Burrow to face the music as it were. Thankfully, he ran into Ron and Hermione before Mrs. Weasley found him.

"Hey guys," he greeted, "just finished with meditating. Something I kind of have to do every day or so. And why do the both of you look like Snape was declared the new Headmaster of Hogwarts and you don't want to tell me?"

Indeed the pair did look rather anxious about something, though more towards the dreading part of anxious than the excited part of anxious. Finally Ron came out with it, leaning in close to speak quietly.

"Mum's been trying to get it out of Hermione and me. What we're off to do. She'll try you next, so brace yourself. Dad and Lupin've both asked as well, but when we said Dumbledore told you not to tell anyone except us, they dropped it. Not Mum, though. She's determined."

"Oh joy," muttered Harry in reply.

"Mad-Eye tried cornering us as well," Hermione put her two knuts in, "we gave him the same story, and he argued for a bit. Then Ron reminded him of your speech last night. Thankfully he hasn't spoken to us since, but he's still here, and he might try talking to you as well."

"I can handle Moody," he quickly assured them. "Well, as far as getting him to stop asking me questions I can handle him. I'm not sure I'd really like to try handling him any other way."

Ron snorted out a laugh, while Hermione gave an insufferable sigh, but he saw the edges of her mouth quirk up just the same. They all quickly sobered however and resumed the trek back to the Weasley kitchen. Just outside the door though, Harry quickly pulled Ron and Hermione aside and urgently whispered to them.

"Guys, I want the two of you to start learning what I know. Battle Magic. It'll take a few years before your masters, but every little bit helps in whats coming. Ginny found me earlier while I was meditating and I've already shown her how to do so. She's out in the back orchard. Hermione, unless you're given any errands to do, I want you to go out back and find Ginny and get her to teach you what I just taught her. Ron and me will be doing the same elsewhere. And I'm sure I don't have to say this, but please don't tell anyone what we're up to."

"Are you serious?!" Ron hissed out, his excitement showing clearly on his face. Hermione had her own twinkle of anticipation in her eyes, so Harry just nodded his head with a smile.

"And you're right, you didn't have to tell us," commented Ron with a smirk as they continued.

In the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley was still cleaning up from breakfast, but the moment she saw the three together, she smiled brightly and boisterously requested that Ron go help the twins with some chores and Hermione to try and find Ginny for her. With a straight face, the bushy-haired brunette agreed to the task and searched the living room for only a moment before heading straight for the back orchard, once she was out of Mrs. Weasley's sight that is.

Which left Harry, all of a sudden alone with the Weasley Matriarch in the kitchen.

"Mind if I help you with the dishes Mrs. Weasley?" offered Harry, trying to both forestall and hasten the interrogation she seemed hell-bent on holding.

"Oh, why thank you dear, you don't really have to, after all you're a guest," she said even as she handed him the drying cloth and several soapy dishes. After a few minutes, it became quite clear that they were the only ones around and that seemed good enough for Molly as she turned to put Harry to task.

"Ron and Hermione seem to think that the three of you are dropping out of Hogwarts," she began in a light, casual tone.

"Oh," said Harry. "Well, yeah. We are. For this year at any rate."

The scrub she was applying to the frying pan almost ignited in the soapy water and it began to get out grease stains that were years old. Harry silently gulped. Neither one of his halves were exactly all that good at facing down an overprotective mother, especially not Molly Weasley.

"May I ask _why_ you are abandoning your education?" said Mrs. Weasley.

"Well, for starters, Dumbledore left me... stuff to do," mumbled Harry. "Ron and Hermione know about it, and they want to come too."

"What sort of 'stuff'?"

Harry didn't answer.

"Harry?" warned Mrs. Weasley, her tone shifting to 'Mother Grizzly Bear' growling.

"I'm sorry," apologized Harry, resigned to his decision, "I can't—"

"Well, frankly, I think Arthur and I have a right to know, and I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Granger would agree!" interrupted Mrs. Weasley. Harry had been afraid of this, and while part of him agreed with the "concerned parent" tactic, the other part of him was just as adamant that babying someone and doing things "for their own good" was no way to treat anyone, adult or child. He forced himself to look directly into her eyes, noticing as he did so that they were precisely the same shade of brown as Ginny's. This did not help.

"Dumbledore didn't want anyone else to know, Mrs. Weasley. I'm sorry. Ron and Hermione don't _have_ to come, it's their choice..."

"I don't see that _you_ have to go either!" she snapped, dropping all pretense now. "You're barely of age, any of you! It's utter nonsense, if Dumbledore needed work doing, he had the whole Order at his command! Harry, you must have misunderstood him. Probably he was telling you something he _wanted_ done, and you took it to mean that he wanted _you—_"

"I didn't misunderstand," said Harry flatly. "It's got to be me."

He stared at her for another few seconds, then sighed and offered her an olive branch as it were. "I can't explain what it is that needs done, but the fewer people who know about it, the better. I trust Ron and Hermione with my life, and sometimes more than that. That they choose to come with me means more to me than anyone can ever know." He finished drying the still wet dishes in front of him. "As for why Dumbledore chose me and not the entire Order... Well for starters, as much as the Order watches the Death Eaters, the Death Eaters watch the Order. Three lone teenagers are practically invisible against the backdrop of the Wizarding world compared to the Order, the Ministry, and the Death Eaters. Not to mention, Hermione and I were practically raised in the Muggle world, and it's not so hard to hide when you need to."

Seeing that that hadn't helped, he tried again. "Look, what I'm trying to say Mrs. Weasley is that one way or another, we're leaving and Hogwarts just isn't safe without Dumbledore. We know how to take care of ourselves, Hermione could pass all her NEWTs right now in fact, and Ron's always been the practical sort. We're going to look out for one another and we _will be okay_, I can promise you. I don't know what else to say Mrs. Weasley. I'm sorry."

He could see tears slowly falling down her reddened cheeks, dripping into the dishwater. Sniffling, she gave him a soulful look that almost tore his heart out. "Say you won't go," begged Mrs. Weasley.

"I'll say that we'll be safe. All of us," said Harry. Then he gave her a warm hug.

"You can't promise that dear, not even Dumbledore could promise that."

"Well I'm making it," Harry said into her neck as he held her, "and I'll do everything in my power to keep it. For all of us."

They stayed that way for several minutes before finally disengaging and Mrs. Weasley sniffled a bit more, but rapidly worked to put herself back into sorts. She seemed to be struggling with something, but finally asked, "Well, Harry, while we've still got you here, you won't mind helping with the preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding, will you? There's still so much to do."

Smiling broadly, Harry nodded his agreement. "Sweet of you," she said even as he answered her aloud.

"Of course, I'd love to help out. Just draw me up a list and I'll get right on it. Oh, that reminds me, I need to get everyone together for something real quick. If you wouldn't mind finishing this up yourself, Mrs Weasley, I'll go ahead and get them all?" said Harry even as he left and quickly made the rounds to get everyone at the Burrow out to the front yard, even Hermione and Ginny from the orchard.

"So what is it you needed Harry?" asked Bill on behalf of the whole family. Mr. Weasley was at work for the day and would be going back and forth until the days preceding, of, and after the wedding.

"Well, Mrs. Weasley, your mother, offered me the opportunity to help out around the house in getting the preparations completed for the wedding, and since I was willing to offer my services anyway, I graciously accepted." Harry chose to ignore the by-play between eldest son and mother at the concept of having a 'guest' do house chores for their wedding, but Harry's comments kept it mild.

"So, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, the gracious and beautiful Fleur, what all needs to happen to turn the Burrow, wonderful home that it is, into the perfect site for your dream wedding? I'm serious, and don't hold back on me. C'mon, hit me! Don't be shy."

"I'm sorry Harry," apologized the confused Bill, "but I don't understand what you mean. The Burrow is nearly as pristine as it's ever been, and we can hold off on putting up the wedding decorations until the day before. Anything else is just upkeep."

"How about a fresh coat of paint?" said Harry. "New shingles on the roof? Mend the fences? Clear out the attic? Sweep out the kitchen? Trim the grass, weed the garden, plant some roses, things like that? Sound good so far?"

"Dear," said Mrs. Weasley, "what are you trying to say?"

"Well, I'm trying to get you to give me the whole list of everything that needs doing, otherwise I'll be playing catch-up for the rest of the week. As for why I gathered all of you together, it was so I could demonstrate this for you," said Harry as he brought his hands together in a seal, two fingers making a cross before him, and then shouted the spell, "_**Shadow Copy Kaleidoscope!**_"

From Harry's feet, his very own shadow seemed to come to life and became a pitch black pool of liquid darkness. A pool that suddenly spread out in five different directions, like the spiral in a kaleidoscope, and from each of those spiral arcs, they began to flow upwards from the ground until they were all as tall as Harry himself, and then reshaped and colored into ten exact copies of him!

Everyone stared in open-mouthed amazement. If they were stunned before, it was nothing compared to how they felt after Harry commanded, "All right boys, go ahead and get started! I'll join up with reinforcements after I know what else we'll be doing!"

"Right Boss!" the ten extra Harry Potters shouted enthusiastically before rushing forward to do everything that Harry had just spoken about, from painting the house, to weeding the garden.

"I'll have this place looking like a palace in no time," said Harry with a touch of pride. Turning to the Weasleys, he shrugged and added, "It's the least I can do for everything you've all done for me. Besides, Bill and Fleur deserve the perfect wedding, what with all they've already had to put up with."

"But Harry!" protested Hermione. "You're not allowed to do magic outside of school until you're seventeen years old!"

"That's for Wizard magic Hermione," said Harry with a shrug. "The Shadow Copy spell is a Battle magic spell, allowing one to even up the odds if they're ever outnumbered. The spell has other uses, as you can see, taking care of chores very quickly being only one of them. Besides, the Burrow is under so many wards that even if the Trace was capable of detecting the use of Battle magic, it wouldn't be able to sense anything. Not to a definite degree. And be honest with me. I've already escaped Voldemort, humiliated him in fact, so do you really think that first of all anybody in the Ministry is going to try and enforce the Underage Limit on me _four days_ before I turn seventeen?"

"People used to say the same about Dementors in Surrey!" exclaimed Hermione.

At that Harry couldn't keep the grin off his face even if he wanted to. "Yeah," he agreed, "and given the fact that I _humiliated_ Voldemort, the Dark Lord no one else wants to even speak the name of, do you really think there is a prison in the entire Wizarding world that can hold me if I don't allow it to?"

Everyone's jaws were scraping the ground by this point. They had never known Harry to be this cavalier about such serious matters. But then again, he hadn't claimed to know and demonstrate a branch of magic that was as much myth as magic itself is to muggles. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny just blamed it on Harry's merger with his other self that had been raised so differently than the one they knew.

Although, to be quite honest, each of them felt it was a refreshing change. At least Harry wasn't moping around depressed and obsessed with his mission from Dumbledore anymore, and the disregard for what everyone else feared was a warm reminder of a much younger Harry Potter, in his first years at Hogwarts.

Meanwhile, Fleur was finally catching on to what Harry was offering and was chattering away about what exactly she'd like the Burrow to be transformed into. Harry was nodding along, meanwhile his shadow copies were racing all over the outside and were in fact halfway through with the chores they'd already been assigned. Then Mrs. Weasley caught on and started speaking up while Bill tried to reign in the two women in his life so they didn't abuse poor Harry.

As it was, fifteen minutes later, the copies were mostly done, in fact had even done a few extra things such as cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom, and Fleur and Mrs. Weasley were finished with their chore list. For now. Harry confirmed everything one last time, then nodded and stepped out into the middle of the clearing off the side of the Burrow. Once there, he formed the same seal once more and cast the spell.

"_**Shadow Copy Kaleidoscope!**_" Instantly the entire field was covered in one gigantic black disc of solid shadow, which slowly formed up into almost one hundred copies of Harry Potter. Just as fast, every single one of them swarmed over the Burrow like ants on a carcass.

Everyone in the front yard could only stare in unrestrained awe at the power and mastery of their friend, and at the ease with which he performed. At least a cool dozen extra Harrys were hanging around with them, some bringing snacks (for Ron), others answering questions (for Hermione), and at least three were fawning all over Ginny, bringing her drinks, fanning her from the summer heat, and getting her a chair and massaging her feet as well. Of course, at the exact same time he was coaching her through completing her mental spell list and in organizing her mind and her breathing exercises. The latter of which was greatly helped by the foot massage.

For the next hour, everyone watched at the Burrow was completely transformed from a lopsided shack that was homey, but rundown, into a three-story home with a high-roof, a fresh coat of paint and a garden modeled after Eden itself. They could hardly recognize it after Harry was finished with it.

Afterwards, Harry stood before it and then turned to ask Fleur, Mrs. Weasley, and Bill if there was anything else they wanted. Anything that didn't have to wait for the day of the wedding that is.

Seeing they couldn't think of anything, Harry nodded one final time and then with a wave of his hand dispelled all of his copies in a mild explosion of white smoke. Unfortunately, it also seemed to signal for the older members to start asking uncomfortable questions.

"All right Harry," said Bill, "I see that Hermione isn't going to crack first this time, so I'll go ahead and ask. How is it you are able to do magic, and with a spell that I've never even heard of?! It's been more than an hour and even with the Order's protections up, the Ministry should've sent notification of underage magic use already! Now I heard your explanation about this... this _Battle magic_ you told Mad-Eye last night, but that doesn't explain how you can use magic without consequence like this!"

Harry just smiled and shrugged at the eldest Weasley offspring. "Well Bill, believe it or not, Battle magic is the answer to your question. In addition to the Shadow Copy spell that I just used, there is an entire branch of masking, cloaking, and hiding spells dedicated solely to allowing the user to use all other forms of magic without being detected by anyone. I made sure that several of those were in place on top of whole new protections I put up alongside all of those put in place by the Order."

"But how did you even learn this... battle magic in the first place, Harry?" asked Bill.

"And as I said last night, I can't answer that question, Bill," answered Harry.

"Well that's not good enough!"

At this point, Ron decided to step in, seeing as he and Bill were now roughly the same height, and Harry was still acting calm about the whole matter, he stepped in front of his brother to stop any further arguments.

"Now hold on Bill," said Ron. "Harry's being as honest as he's allowed to be. Besides, you remember how Dumbledore was? In a way it's kinda like having him back, don't you think?" Ron continued to speak quietly with his brother while a few others stepped in behind the boy's back.

"So Harry," said Fred.

"Silent business partner," continued George.

"Good friend."

"Future brother-in-law," they finished together with a subtle glance towards Ginny.

"Care to explain," said Fred. "How it is," said George. "Those cloaking spells of yours," Fred. "Work? Just curious mind you as if we could market it..." George. "Then we'd make a killing in the shop!" Fred. "Not that we aren't already," George. "Our Defense Line is still our top sellers," Fred finished up.

"Don't you two ever get tired of doing that?" asked Harry after the ping-pong match of listening to them.

The red-haired twins looked each other in the eye for a full three seconds and then casually, and in odd tandem, shook their heads no and replied, "No."

"Yeah, didn't think so," he commented.

"So?" the two asked in stereo.

"No," he replied with a matching grin.

At their looks of disappointment, he added, "For better reasons than anything you two could imagine as well. The first of which, is that you would have to swear on your magic to not use those spells for your shop, but only for battle, war, and fighting. Part of the whole initiation into Battle magic, and I can't teach you _just_ the cloaking spells as those are advanced spells dependent on _basic_ principles. The other part is that any products you make can be reverse-engineered and if not the current Death Eaters and Dark Lord, then the _next_ set will be able to use them. I'd rather not run the risk if it's all the same. But... ask me after the war's over with and I might... come up with something. If you ask nicely." He laughed at their shocked, yet still calculating looks as he turned and walked away.

Thankfully only to run into Ginny, who quickly pulled him out of the line of fire, so to speak, as she dragged him off to a hiding spot behind the brand new Burrow. Just to be on the safe side, while they had a few moments peace, Harry quickly created a couple extra copies, and then had three of them transfigure themselves into exact copies of Ginny, Hermione, and Ron. And without Polyjuice potion too.

"Wow," said Ginny in open-jawed amazement at her sudden twin. "Will I be able to do stuff like this after you finish teaching me Battle magic?"

"Eventually," answered Harry with a shrug. "But it's not an overnight thing. I'm considered a prodigy for the simple fact I reached Mastery within six years. But then I was on an accelerated program and was given the answers to some problems that I might've been able to figure out on my own. For many, not everybody, but for many mastery comes on average after about ten years of dedicated study."

"Ten years?!" she exclaimed.

Harry just shrugged, then lead them back out to the orchard while his and her copies went back out around the front to take their place without anyone getting suspicious, and to allow opportunity for Ron and Hermione to likewise switch out and to join them later.

As they walked, Harry continued to explain and expand on Ginny's lessons and understanding of this forgotten branch of magical study.

"So how far did you and Hermione get before I came to get you earlier?" he asked.

"Not very. I explained to her what you'd told me, and she figured a lot of it out on her own before I could even finish! We meditated for about five or ten minutes before you showed up, and I got a little closer to feeling my core. I mean, it's easy to feel my magic, I feel that all the time, but my core? How is it that we're not taught this at Hogwarts? It seems like it would be pretty vital."

"Well, for Battle magic, which uses wandless magic almost all of the time, it is. But in case you haven't noticed, wizards and witches, that don't live out in the country, don't really like to do any more work than they absolutely have to. And despite what you might think of it, it's actually a lot easier and not as hard to go and hunt down a Phoenix tail feather, a Dragon's heart string, or a Unicorn's hair and craft about 500 wands a century and learn motions and words than it is to learn how to recognize, contain, and form the magic directly with your own mind. First thing I noticed about the Wizarding world when I was eleven and Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley for my first time; wizards are lazy. There are exceptions, but on the whole... wizards are lazy."

"I trust I'm the exception?" she asked with a coy smile.

"You're wanting to learn the hard way of doing magic, aren't you?" he side-ways complimented her.

"Well that's just it," said Ginny suddenly, "It's _not_ that hard! I almost had it the first time I tried it this morning, but it just keeps slipping through my fingers! I know I'll be able to do it before too long here, I just know it! Besides, it was harder learning to do the Bat-Bogie Hex the first time around."

"Well keep in mind this is just the first step, and even me, a Master at Battle magic, I have to do the same exercises you're doing now, almost daily, even before the Fusion. And that's why I said it was the hard way, because with wand-waving, you have to match the movements and words and let the magic flow, and then you have to do it often enough that your magic then associates the spell with the movements and words automatically. This way is just the opposite; making _you_ associate the spell with the flow of magic."

"And I certainly don't expect any of you to get this down by the first day. Although it's great if you do, because there are more advanced exercises I can have you do that will help even more, but you have to be patient and just keep working at this one until you can feel your magic core and not just once, but every time. Just hang in there, keep trying, and don't give up. You will get it eventually. I promise you."

"How's the spell list coming, by the way?" he asked her suddenly.

"Easier than I initially thought it would be," she grudgingly admitted. "Once I got started, it just began to flow together. Then, when you were helping me to relax earlier, I finished the full list. And you told me to start categorizing them by basic spells, hexes, curses, defensive spells, offensive spells, healing spells, constructive spells, destructive spells... I'm still working on organizing them all, but it's made recalling them all a lot easier."

"Well, keep in mind that many of the same spells can fit under different categories all at once. You don't have to limit each to one category alone. This is another way of teaching you that a single spell can in fact have many different uses," explained Harry.

"See," Ginny giggled, "that's the other reason I don't think of this as the hard way, because you make it so easy. If being the Hero of the Wizarding world doesn't work out for you Harry, you'll make a great teacher some day."

"So everyone keeps telling me," he grumbled, recalling his Fifth Year and 'Dumbledore's Army'.

Ginny just laughed out loud and raced ahead to the orchard. Harry grinned and chased after, enjoying the chance, however brief, to enjoy his youth.


	6. Training and Preparations

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe. Tamora Pierce is the awesome author of the "Circle of Magic" books that 'Mage-Harry' is taken from, and of course I don't own Winding Circle nor the concepts of Academic and Ambient Magic. Any future Spy-Magic you might see is going to be exactly like the Battle Magic so far, an amalgamation of numerous sources that might not even be 'magic' on their own, but have been twisted in such a way by me. You have been warned.

Summary: A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.

Story:

_Late Evening_

_Orchard behind the Burrow_

"_Training Grotto"_

Hermione and Ron managed to sneak away a few minutes after Harry and Ginny already had, and after hints from the copies, their friend's as well as their own, joined them in the orchard. Harry patiently walked Ron through the exercises Hermione and Ginny were already practicing, as well as detailing his reasons for wanting them to learn in the first place. He explained what he'd already told the girls, as well as his own personal reasons, and then added a few arguments to ultimately convince his stubborn friend.

Afterwards, they spent the rest of the afternoon beneath the orchard trees, meditating, talking, catching up, and planning. Harry discussed options on where they should go after the wedding, Hermione theorized about possible locations of the remaining Horcruxes, until Harry outright told her where they were, as well as who RAB was and where the real Locket Horcrux was at that very moment. Ron and Ginny argued over the latter coming, until Harry cemented that he wasn't letting anyone that he didn't trust Voldemort _not_ to go after just to pull him from hiding, out of his sight no matter what. And unfortunately, half of Hogwarts, mostly Gryffindor, but other houses too, knew that Harry and Ginny were an item.

It took another few minutes of arguing from all three of them before Ron finally let the matter drop, but Harry had learned better of his friend by now and the confidence of a trained warrior made him more aggressive than he might once have been after arguing with Ron. He didn't allow Ron to stew over it for weeks, even months over the decision of his sister coming with them on their adventure. No, Harry made absolutely certain that Ron really did understand why Ginny was coming and that the girls likewise understood Ron's reasons for being against it. For the large part it was being an overprotective big brother and similar thoughts as to what made Harry initially break up with the girl before summer vacation. Unfortunately, there were a couple of hidden reasons that Harry had suspected and that Ron eventually confirmed.

Harry, Hermione and Ron. The Gryffindor Trio. Together as adventurers since their first year and always getting into and out of trouble together. Ron felt that Ginny's presence was an invasion and on top of it, he had a serious inferiority complex due to being the youngest son after five older brothers and now his baby sister was coming in to take this away from him too?

It was hours of conversation and arguing, lots of shouting moments, even more rehashing of things already said, but in the end Ginny and Hermione were hugging Ron until he was tomato-red and Ron was firmly cemented in Harry's opinion that if anyone wanted to hurt his baby sister they'd have to go through him first. Ginny was a little resentful until Harry reminded her that while their hearts were chauvinist pigs, they were both still practical thinkers and both agreed that Ginny needed to learn to fight just as much as they did, as even if they were the first on the line, there was always the chance that somebody _could_ get through them and they wanted her safe, no matter what.

Which lead once more to the same situation where Ron was asking Hermione if they would be snogging all the time like that. Hermione, having been annoyed at Ron's levels of insensitivity to her absolute limit already, especially after the long discussion, slapped the back of his head rather than comment.

After all that, they all went back to meditating and practicing. Fifteen minutes later, almost at the same time, all three had something of a breakthrough. They didn't really grasp their magic cores, as Harry had been training them to, but they did break through to the level of understanding that they could fully sense the flow of magic through their bodies. Hermione described it like a constant hum in her bones and vibrating the rest of her. Ginny described it as finally being able to tell the difference from just the presence of her magic, and the way that it actually flowed. Ron on the other hand was kind of scary as he described it as...

"Like raw power, a whole river of the stuff, like it's never stopped moving for an instant, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but... it never stops moving... Bugger," he said as he ran a hand through his tussled red mane.

Harry stared in mute shock at his best mate of more than six years now. What was so scary about that wasn't a 17-year-old boy talking about power like it was a holy presence, but that description, almost verbatim, is how the flow of magic was described to him by Joshua when he was first learning, and to hear Ron use the same terms as the Time Wizard that split him in half and then put him back together was more than a little disconcerting. Besides, it was a spot-on description for those that have the most sensitivity towards their own magic. Which meant a few things of its own there, but that would bear further investigation before actually doing or saying anything about it first.

"All right then," said Harry as he finally snapped out of his stupor, "lets try that all again and see if you can increase your perception of the flow of your magic. See if you can't feel its pulse, the rhythm of it, okay?"

Five minutes later, Ron was the first to announce he'd figured out his rhythm to the flow of magic, and both of the girls were just a couple minutes behind him. Harry then had them all continue to follow the pulse of magic for as long as they could and to not expect it to stay the same. It was supposed to change, like the pulse of blood in their own veins.

After about half an hour of that, he had them continue further exercises while keeping track of the presence, the flow, and the pulse of their magic while they performed them. He kept giving them more and more exercises until he felt they finally understood what it was they were sensing, which wasn't easy to do for even the most brilliant magician of the ages, let alone three teenage novices.

Finally, just as the sun was reaching the lower half of the sky, Harry had gotten over his shock at their progress and Ron's sensitivity and decided to go ahead with his plans on training them.

"OK then," said Harry as he got to his feet, gesturing for them to do the same, "Now the way I learned what you're doing, I spent a week in solid meditation, and while I could feel my core by the end of the first day, I still wasn't allowed to move on to the next step until after that week. But we don't have that kind of time and I don't want you lot getting bored or thinking I'm holding you back, so with what you've done just today, I'm going to show you exactly how effective this training is."

"We've already seen you do wandless magic Harry," said Ron, "but you keep saying we're years from doing stuff like that!"

"Oh I won't be doing a thing this time, Ron," he assured his friend. "I just said I'd show you. You'll be doing all the work, but I promise you'll notice the difference. Now go ahead and take out your wands while I get things ready over here."

Harry quickly walked over and picked up about nine of the fallen fruit scattered around the orchard trees and then cast a couple of silent growth charms on about six of them. Three were left at normal size, three were about the size of a large Quaffle, and three were about the size of beach balls. Silently, Harry levitated them so that one of each size was hovering about ten feet in front of his friends.

"Now, we're going to be testing out how things are progressing, all right? First round, I want you to employ all of the lessons I've had you practice so far, breathing, organizing spells in your mind, and feeling the flow and pulse of your magic. And no curses or hexes or anything fancy. Just outright dueling charms; _Expelliarmus_, _Stupefy_, _Expulso_, _Impedimenta_ those sort of things, all right? On the second round, only cast silent spells, not even mouthing the words. Yes Ginny, I know you haven't studied that yet but this would've been your sixth year and since you're coming with us, might as well get started now, right?" Reluctantly the red haired girl nodded her head and resolved to do as instructed.

"While you are casting, first at the big ones, then at the medium ones, I want you to keep your focus on the flow of your magic and your breathing. Once the targets aren't there anymore I'll ask you if you noticed anything. If you do notice something, don't say anything, don't do anything different, just keep casting and keep paying attention to the flow of your magic. Any questions?"

"Um, Harry?" asked Hermione with a raised hand.

He just looked at her expectantly.

"What about the small ones?"

Harry just grinned, somewhat evilly at her. "You'll be casting same as on the others, only with the small ones we're going to work more on accuracy and feeling the pulse of your magic, OK? After all, it's better to hit what you cast at the first time than the tenth, right?"

"Wait, what?" blurted Ron.

"You'll see," said Harry, mysteriously. "Begin!"

And so they did. The Disarming and Stopping spells didn't really have that much effect on floating fruit, but give a stunning spell enough power and it'll even scorch stone. So pretty soon all three were firing off a steady cycle of stunner, repulsion, and exploding spells. After the big ones were pretty thoroughly wasted, they moved on to the mid-sized ones. After that, they practiced accuracy-casting on the small ones. Once the first set was gone, Harry moved them on to Round Two.

Ginny had a bit of trouble at first and spent several minutes casting the same spell silently until she apparently felt she had it down well enough before moving on to the next spell and repeating the same progress. It was uncanny progress as the Fifth year girl who hasn't even started her Sixth year yet had just flown through more than three months of Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum in less than one hour. By the time Ginny felt she had more or less gotten down all of the available 'Dueling spells' that wasn't a specialized hex, she went back to the way of alternating every other spell in her attacks.

Within a few more minutes of solid silent casting by all three, the Second Round targets were all destroyed, leaving only the single normal sized fruits left. Silent accuracy-casting was the hardest yet and they all spent more than fifteen minutes just getting even one spell to work right on it. Finally, though, they managed to complete the course and Harry decided to move them on to Round Three.

Before they started, Harry stepped forward once more and asked them, "So, notice anything?"

"A bit, yeah," said Ron.

"I didn't at first, but as I kept casting the spells normally, I began to notice what you were talking about before, Harry," said Ginny. "The _shape_ of the spell and how my magic flowed to create that shape. I began to notice it more and more when I moved on to the silent casting and when I did, I tried relying more on the flow of magic and letting it go into the same shape rather than the thought of the spell or anything like that, and it _was_ easier. They've really got to start teaching it this way at Hogwarts!"

"I noticed a bit of that, but I still don't think I can do it without my wand!" said Hermione.

"That's fine," Harry assured her, "seeing as a single stunner cast without a wand would vaporize these fruits anyway. I'm not expecting anything to happen by today. In fact, I wouldn't even let you try, even if you were already ready for it. Things have to go in order some times, and going too fast can often be much worse than not going fast enough. Besides, you've improved your silent spells, to an impressive degree, and all within a single day. Snape's gonna have a fit when he learns I really am a better teacher than he ever was!" They laughed.

"So, what's planned for Round Three, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Did all of you feel the pulse of your magic as you were casting on the smaller fruits?" he asked in turn. They all nodded back at him, Ginny and Ron adding in a few comments that made him wonder about magic sensitivity running in families for a moment.

"Next, is the level above where we've been practicing so far. You might think of what we've been doing as NEWT level spell-practice. This next exercise is Auror-training level spell-practice," said Harry as he levitated a full dozen of the ordinary sized fruits, so there would be four targets for each. "These will be rotating around you at a steady revolution. But not only is this moving targets, I'd also like you to try increasing the strength of your spells as well."

"How you do this is twofold," he explained. "One, you increase your focus on the spell and direct a bit of emotion behind the spell too. The more emotional you are, the powerful your magic becomes. Unfortunately, the more emotional people tend to get, the less accurate they are in things they're trying to do, like casting a spell at a specific target. That's part of why we practice like this. Secondly, I want you to focus on the pulse of your magic, and at the very _moment_ that you feel your magic is pulsing out at its strongest point, that's when I want you to cast your spell. Pretty soon you'll be able to consciously control exactly how much magic and how much power you put into every one of your spells. Play around with it for a while. Experiment and feel things out for yourself. After a while, we'll discuss how you're doing and see where we need to go from there, all right?"

"But, Harry," Hermione interrupted, "it's getting rather late, don't you think?"

"We'll stop when it's supper time, which my copies tell me is not for another hour and a half," answered Harry. "Tell you what though. We'll practice for another hour, and then we'll stop and get cleaned up and get back to the Burrow, all right?" They agreed and began practicing once again, Ginny and Ron intently focused as they wanted to master this exercise before the day was through.

_The Next Day_

_The Burrow_

_Training Grotto_

It was criminally easy to sneak everyone away from the Burrow, after breakfast. Thanks to Harry having "demonstrated" his Copy spell the day before, nobody thought it odd to see at least a few Harry's wandering around doing chores, planting new bushes and flowers in the garden, working on the house, or even helping out in the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley, wonderful soul that she is, had it in her head to do everything in her power to keep those she viewed as her children from following through on the "insane notion" of not going back to school, and as such she kept them as busy as possible, as far away from each other as possible, for their own good of course.

Poor Mrs. Weasley, her power, unfortunately, just wasn't strong enough to beat Harry's transfigured copies from taking Hermione, Ginny and Ron's places to do the chores while the lot of them went off to the orchard, out of sight, to train in Battle magic. And other things.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" shouted Harry as he literally ran circles around his friends.

They were currently running laps through the ten acre plot of land, Harry telling them it was for conditioning and PT, physical training, he called it. They were moving at a snails pace, well, to Harry they were, but actually the three other teenagers were keeping up at a marathon pace with surprising stamina. Then again, after six years of having to fight on the run on top of getting to and from class in a magic castle that likes to change up its passages once in a while, their stamina might not have been so surprising.

"Blimey, Harry!" gasped Ron, as they ran past the starter tree for the twelfth time, "We're not, bloody, Centaurs that can, outrace a, Unicorn! Give us, a break!"

"Tell you what," said Harry, who wasn't even the slightest bit out of breath as he jogged beside Ron, "you run ten whole laps at your top speed, and I'll let you quit for the day. You run 100 laps at your current pace, I'll let you do the same. You match me for one lap the whole way... you get to pick what I teach you next, even if you want to learn a Battle spell, I'll do my best to teach it to you by the end of today. Provided, even one of you can keep up with me the whole way."

"A hundred!" Ron shouted.

"At your current pace," corrected Harry. "Go as fast as you can for ten laps, you can quit early."

Ginny immediately pulled ahead, clearly going flat out for her petite Quidditch-Chaser frame. Hermione looked undecided for all of a few seconds before she too started increasing her pace. Not yet going flat out, instead she was trying to conserve her energy and was steadily increasing her speed bit by bit.

Harry turned a grin at Ron, who grumbled but started to go faster.

"Better, but still not all you can do," said Harry, who was annoyingly keeping exact pace with the redhead without any signs of effort.

Still grumbling, Ron went flat out for all of three steps before faltering the tiniest bit, but clearly going much faster. "Almost. Ginny's got the right idea, and Hermione's getting there. Hi, Ginny!" he called as Ron's younger sister passed them.

"I'm going to be starting my own workout and my own pace on the next pass. Offer still stands, go for ten laps, or keep pace with me for one and I'll teach the three of you anything you want to know. But if you keep going up and down like this Ron, you'll still have to do the hundred."

Growling now, Ron took a gasping breath and went all out, but this time he kept pushing himself faster and putting forth more effort constantly and he stayed at his top speed.

"Not bad Ron," said Harry as they began to gain on Hermione ahead of them. "OK, here we go! Remember, whoever can keep pace with me for one lap can quit after that lap and I'll teach all three of you whatever you want to know, for today."

Then he disappeared.

Well, not actually, it's just that as they passed the 'Start' tree, Harry accelerated so fast that to Ron, he just disappeared from his side. Ginny, who was on the other side of the 'track' saw it more as a black and dark-blue (the color of Harry's clothes) blur streak out from the tree and begin to surround the whole field. When Harry passed her, less than a heartbeat later, all she felt was a gust of powerful wind pass her and saw what looked like a hundred Harry Potters all flowing into each other.

Afterimages, she realized with a dropping sensation in the pit of her stomach. '_Nobody is that fast! _Nobody' she thought to herself, even as she saw it happening right in front of her.

All three ran for as hard and as long as they could, Ginny even running for fifteen laps instead of stopping at ten as she raced desperately to try and keep pace with Harry for even one second, let alone one lap. Annoyingly, even as he passed them with blurring speed, he spoke with them and kept count for all of them, noting when they started to falter in their speed, and ultimately telling them when they had reached ten laps and could stop. Finally, they just all collapsed from exhaustion, none of them able to run another step. Harry continued at his unfathomable speed for another solid hour, his passage creating a pleasant breeze for his passed out friends, before he finally slowed to a halt, actually sweating and breathing heavily.

"Damn," he cursed as he bent over, holding his knees as he slowly got his breathing under control.

"I'll say," groaned Ron from the forest floor.

"What are you damning now, Harry?" Ginny asked with a tired giggle. He smiled down at her. They really couldn't help it. They were dating each other again, they were kissing every moment they weren't in the Burrow or busy training, teaching, or learning. Even Harry himself felt like giggling half the time, but men don't giggle. Girls often do, so that's okay.

"I've gotten faster," he finally answered her question. "Used to be, that pace, for that long would have me joining you three on the ground there. I'm gonna have to move up to the next level. Damn."

"Is this a 'Ron' kind of 'damn', or a 'bad' kind of 'damn'?" Hermione finally had to ask.

"A 'Ron' kind," chuckled Harry.

"Hey!"

"What was that anyway, Harry?" asked Ginny, finally sitting up to speak. "That kind of speed is unreal, and you just _did_ it. Humans, even with magic, just can't move that fast!"

"Sure we can," said Harry.

"How?"

"Well, part of it _is_ a spell, but not as much as you might think. For one thing, as I know you've learned by now, in Battle magic there's not much difference between your magic, and the energy used to move and make your body function. So whether I'm expending energy to move my muscles to make my legs move, or expending magic to do the same, the only difference is the effect. Muscles can only contract and expand so fast and so hard without crushing the bones that support them. Magic doesn't really care about physical limitations and kind of frees that up."

"So what's the spell?" Ron asked instantly.

"Unfortunately, none of you could keep up with me for one whole lap, so I'm not going to teach it to you today," he grinned evilly down at them, "but the spell is called _Lightning Shoes_. In short, it's a spell, or a way of shaping magic around my body, that allows me to move at super speeds. It's also the Basic form of a multi-level spell. I explained those to you, right?"

Hermione nodded before Ron could claim ignorance, then she asked, "What are the other levels called?"

"Well, the Advanced form is called _Thunder Claps_, and in comparison, I guess you could say that where with Lightning Shoes I looked like a streak of color, with Thunder Claps it looks like I'm Disaparating instantly, all over the place. The Proficient form is called _Lightspeed Flash_, and you can't see me. At all. To me, on the other hand, well, with the first two forms everything is still moving, I'm just moving faster. With Lightspeed Flash, it looks like the entire world is frozen around me and I'm the only thing moving at normal speed."

"And the Ultimate form?" asked Hermione, not without a bit of trepidation.

"_Instant Movement_."

Harry paused for a moment before continuing, "Kinda speaks for itself, and only time I've ever been able to keep it up for any length of time is when I'm infused with the power of my Gate, you saw that when I did the Dragon summons. Instant Movement is the be all, end all of magical super speed, allowing more or less momentary travel across unreal distances, and the entire universe itself is frozen and you're still moving at super speed, not regular speed, _super speed_. As with all Ultimate forms, it drains magic faster than you can blink, and it's no picnic on the body either. All other forms, your magic still has enough left over to protect your muscles and body from the friction and other forces that would otherwise be affecting you. Instant Movement... there is no extra magic, and you run the risk of pulverizing your entire body if you're not prepared for it."

"So that's why the conditioning," stated Ginny.

Harry nodded. "Along with a few dozen other reasons, and a few hundred other spells of different forms. Better conditioned your bodies are, the better you'll be able to handle what your magic can then allow you to do. All right, you've rested enough for now, let's go ahead and start some aerobics, get some agility built up. Then we'll do push-ups and other things to build up basic body strength."

Groaning, all three of them pulled themselves to their feet and allowed Harry to direct them in further exercises until they wanted to drop back to the ground in exhaustion. And it wasn't even ten thirty yet!

By the time they finally broke for lunch that day, the youngest Weasley children and the only-child of the Grangers felt like they had gone a full season in Quidditch against nothing but teams full of iron ball Bludgers. At the same time, the boys had to admit the girls had never looked better in their sweat-matted clothing, and vice versa too.

Thankfully, their various copies had likewise been worked to sweating goriness, and so a few well-timed vanishings and they were all settled in for Lunch with the rest of the family without anyone being the wiser or suspecting a thing about their appearance. After lunch, and a few more transfigured copies all around, and they were back out in the orchard, this time to continue their magical training. Ron and Hermione still hadn't perfected the third round exercises just yet, and so were continuing to feel out the flow and pulse of their magic as they cast regularly and silently.

Ginny, on the other hand, seemed to suddenly able to shoot the target out of the air, on the first spell, just by looking at it. Her spell strength and spell accuracy were as good as any NEWT-level student, but she was still only at the student level, so Harry started helping her in that regard while Ron and Hermione continued their own exercises against floating targets.

At first Harry found himself just repeating what his own teachers had taught him at Hogwarts the first two years, as they coached him to controlling the amount of power released during a spell. Harry added the tidbits about how adding power could help as well, but only after increased control. Ginny paid close attention regardless and very soon was casting at a very impressive level of both power and accuracy. Nevertheless, Harry continued to aid her by providing additional pointers, and then by giving her a more complicated training exercise.

This one had her testing accuracy and speed together. Conjuring a few harmless bubbles that could only be popped by a spell or other magic, Harry had her try popping all of them as quickly as possible, making the bubbles smaller and increasing the numbers each time she succeeded. Until they were all about the size of marbles and the air was practically filled with them. And, of course, all the casting was done with silent spell work, which increased the speed all on its own, after she'd finally gotten the hang of it.

Once she had gotten to the point where she was hitting all of the targets in under a minute, Harry took her back to meditating, this time focusing on magic _control_ exercises, the same ones that were invaluable after his merger several weeks ago. This had to do with focusing on the path the magic took when casting a spell, from the way that it went from the core to the arm to the hand to the wand and ultimately out of the tip of the wand, to every other way one could imagine using as a means of casting spells.

A couple of hours later, Ron and Hermione had by then completed the same speed exercises, and finally joined Ginny in her magic control exercises. The rest of the day was spent on that, then a final run before heading back to the Burrow for supper and sleep. And so that was the schedule for the next few days. Until the Delacours arrived that is.

_July 30, 1996_

_The Burrow_

The Delacours arrived that morning at eleven o'clock. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were feeling quite resentful toward Fleur's family due primarily to all the preparation Mrs. Weasley had insisted upon. Part of which was that Harry wasn't allowed to make copies for the entire day, and the wily Head of the Weasley household even used Harry's own arguments, against the fewer people knowing, the better, about his abilities to elicit such a promise from him. Therefore they had been forced to skip out on training for the day and had gotten stuck doing the chores their copies usually did in their place. So it was with ill grace that Ron stumped back upstairs to put on matching socks, and Harry attempted to flatten his hair. Once they had all been deemed smart enough, they trooped out into the sunny backyard to await the visitors.

No one had ever seen the place look so amazing. The rusty cauldrons and old Willington boots that usually littered the steps by the back door were gone, replaced by two new Flutterby bushes standing either side of the door in large pots; though there was no breeze, the leaves waved lazily, giving an attractive rippling effect. The chickens had been shut away, the yard had been swept, and the garden-made-eden had been spruced up into near perfection and even the now, somehow, trained garden gnomes were afraid to touch anything to mar the heavenly beauty of the area.

Harry had lost track of how many security enchantments had been placed upon the Burrow by the Order, the Ministry, Bill and Gringotts, and Harry himself; all he knew was that it was no longer possible for anybody, even himself, to travel by magic directly into the place. Mr. Weasley had therefore gone to meet the Delacours on top of a nearby hill, where they were to arrive by Portkey.

The first sound of their approach was an unusually high-pitched laugh, which turned out to be coming from Mr. Weasley, who appeared at the gate moments later, laden with luggage and leading a beautiful blonde woman in long, leaf-green robes, who could only be Fleur's mother.

"Maman!" cried Fleur, rushing forward to embrace her. "Papa!"

Monsieur Delacour was nowhere near as attractive as his wife; he was a head shorter and extremely plump, with a little, pointed black beard. However, he looked good-natured. Bouncing toward Mrs. Weasley on high-heeled boots, he kissed her twice on each cheek, leaving her flustered. "You 'ave been to much trouble," he said in a deep voice, "Fleur tells us you 'ave been working very 'ard."

"Oh, it's been nothing, nothing!" trilled Mrs. Weasley. "No trouble at all!"

Ron relieved his feelings by aiming a kick at a mischievous gnome who was peering out from behind one of the new Flutterby bushes.

"Dear lady!" said Monsieur Delacour, still holding Mrs. Weasley's hand between his own two plump ones and beaming. "We are most honored at the approaching union of our two families! Let me present my wife, Apolline."

Madame Delacour glided forward and stooped to kiss Mrs. Weasley too.

"_Enchant__é__e_," she said. "Your 'usband 'as been telling us such amusing stories!"

Mr. Weasley gave a maniacal laugh; Mrs. Weasley threw him a look, upon which he became immediately silent and assumed an expression appropriate to the sickbed of a close friend.

"And, of course, you 'ave met my leetle daughter, Gabrielle!" said Monsieur Delacour. Gabrielle was Fleur in miniature; eleven years old, with waist-length hair of pure, silvery blonde, she gave Mrs. Weasley a dazzling smile and hugged her, then threw Harry a glowing look, batting her eyelashes. Ginny cleared her throat loudly, and more than a bit threateningly too.

"Well, come in, do!" said Mrs. Weasley brightly, and she ushered the Delacours into the house, with many "No, please!"s and "After you!"s and "Not at all!"s.

The Delacours, it soon transpired, were helpful, pleasant guests. They were pleased with everything and keen to assist with the preparations for the wedding. Monsieur Delacour pronounced everything from the seating plans to the bridesmaids' shoes "_Charmant!_" Madame Delacour was most accomplished at household spells and had the oven properly cleaned in a trice; Gabrielle followed her elder sister around, trying to assist in any way she could and jabbering away in rapid French.

On the downside, the Burrow was not built to accommodate so many people. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were now sleeping in the sitting room, having shouted down Monsieur and Madame Delacour's protests and insisted they take their bedroom. Gabrielle was sleeping with Fleur in Percy's old room, and Bill would be sharing with Charlie, his best man, once Charlie arrived from Romania. Opportunities to make plans together became virtually nonexistent, and it was in desperation that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny took to volunteering to feed the chickens just to escape the overcrowded house. For all of the five minutes it took them to do that, Harry came to a very fast decision.

"Now what?" asked Ron in annoyance as his mother came by, carrying a large basket of laundry in her arms and talking about still remaining chores and wedding preparations.

Just after she started talking about the "Millamant's Magic Marquees", Harry interrupted her. "I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley, I truly am, but I have to break my promise to you that I made earlier."

Looking more than a bit stunned, she blusteringly questioned, "Wh-whatever d-do you mean, dear?"

"This whole situation is completely intolerable! We can barely even walk anywhere without bumping elbows with somebody else and as lovely as your home is and has become, it's just not practical to have this many people staying in a building of this size. So, again, I'm sorry, but I must break my promise to you. _Shadow Copy Kaleidoscope!_" Instantly, the same shadow pool came as every morning, but this time there were just as many copies as the time he'd fixed up the Burrow several days ago.

"Boys, transfigure, conjure, go out and buy, hell, even go out and cut down a few specially grown trees, but get the supplies we need to get this done!" the original ordered to his new army. Only a few stayed behind as all the others raced off, after invoking the _Lightning Shoes_ spell, most of them conjuring a clipboards with parchment and paper on them with quills.

"Note to self," the original spoke to one of the copies, who immediately started writing a note, "Build more rooms. Enchant each to be no less than twice the outside parameters on the inside. Redo all the plumbing. Add in a pool, indoor and outdoor if we can manage it. Oh, and triple the size of the kitchen and make the dining room the size of the Hogwarts Great Hall. Inside."

"Uh, Boss," one of the suddenly nervous-looking copies spoke up.

"Yeah?" said Harry.

"All of that, plus just general expansions? This is either going to take more manpower, or at least a coupla weeks. A hundred, even with unlimited supplies just is not going to cut it."

"Good point," nodded Harry. "Note to self; Two Hundred Copies, no less."

"HARRY!" Hermione, Mrs. Weasley and Ron all shouted.

"And take the Delacours out to dinner instead of making Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour do all the cooking. How do those calculations add up?" he asked the copy that had pointed out the flaw.

Slowly, the copy was nodding his head. "Yeah, yeah, just about... yeah! It should work. But just barely. Five hundred wouldn't be outside of the realm of reason. Especially with the dining room expansions."

Harry winced a bit. "Five hundred might actually be cutting it a bit close. But not impossible by any stretch of the imagination. Five hundred it is then, I'll just limit myself to Wizard-defensive spells for the rest of the time. That way there's definitely enough energy to go about with the magical enhancements."

"Harry, what... what is the meaning of this?" asked Mrs. Weasley weakly.

"There's just not enough room in the Burrow for everyone Mrs. Weasley, so I'm doing everyone a favor, while paying you back for some of the kindness you've given me in my life. Since I'm going to be adding a few rooms anyway, just for everyone's comfort, I figured I might as well go the extra mile and turn the Burrow from a, while homey and lovable, little shack, and give you the palace that you always deserved. The pool is for the kids. Y'know, the grandkids that we'll be having and bringing by to play with their grandparents and stuff."

If Mrs. Weasley wasn't on the verge of tears of joy before, she most certainly was now. Then the other copies started showing back up, bringing with them the supplies needed to actually do this little housing project.

"Unfortunately, I basically have to strip the Burrow to it's bare bones and build almost from the foundations up. Hence why we'll be going out to dinner, my treat," said Harry as more and more supplies began to arrive.

"Oh, but dear, you can't leave the property! The Death Eaters... and You-Know-Who..."

"Had better run screaming if they see me while we're out tonight," said Harry darkly.

Unconsciously, everyone who heard him say that shivered as though a cold breeze had just swept through the area. It was quickly forgotten though as Harry's cheery demeanor was back as though nothing at all had happened. In short order, the change of plans was announced to everyone and while they were all concerned about Harry, he quietly insisted that they go out and enjoy themselves. Such enjoyment was rare and precious during these days of war. If any of them, usually a member of the Weasley clan that hadn't yet heard him, made mention of Death Eaters of Voldemort, Harry simply repeated his answer of before, in the exact same tone. It was the most effective method to quiet such arguments.

Just before they left, another copy quickly handed the original a wallet that had been filled with British Pounds, as well as a couple of hastily put-through credit cards, all from Gringotts, which accepted Harry, whoever it might really be, so long as the person had his face and his key.

Given that they were in a time of war, and the only wizarding places he only really knew of were Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, Harry had made plans of taking them not to the most expensive wizarding place in England, but to the most expensive _period;__L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon_. (This is a real restaurant, located in London, England at 13-15 West Street, WC2H 9NE. It made the top ten, but it had the best reviews of them as having the most diverse menu available too, hence why I chose it out of the ten.)

Again, Aparating was impossible, and it was not, supposed to be, in Harry's power to create Portkeys, but since it was barely even three o'clock in the afternoon, a bit too early for dinner, he'd made other arrangements. As they all walked, in their best clothes, robes or dresses for the women while Harry personally transfigured suits for all the men, down to the village and left the confines of the protections of the Burrow, Harry turned back at the last second and quickly filled the rest of the five hundred copy quota.

Theoretically, it _is_ possible to fit that many bodies within the confines of the Burrow's property, but it's quite another to actually see it physically happen. As such, when they all swarmed the defenseless Burrow, it was like watching a colony of ants descend upon the carcass of a dead beetle.

"Gotta remember to do this again sometime," Harry said to himself with amusement, as he was the only one to see the spectacle, then he turned and raced to catch up with everyone else.

Once they arrived at the village, they were all surprised to see a rather large stretch limo waiting for them there. Harry greeted the driver with impunity and quickly ushered them all inside. Amazingly enough, there truly was room for them all in the long-bodied muggle vehicle. It wasn't magicked or anything, in fact the driver and the service he worked for had never even heard of wizards or magic before, but with the amount of money Harry was practically throwing at their feet, they'd believe the moon was made out of cheese and the Earth was flat if he told them so.

Mr. Weasley and the Delacours were all fascinated by the available technology in the back of the limo, from the windows, to the wet bar, to the TV and DVD/VCR player, which Harry and Hermione had a fun time explaining to them all. They finally arrived in the city and at the restaurant right at seven pm, about the time Mrs. Weasley would've been starting dinner anyway.

Harry lead them in, announcing they were the "Potter party" and they were celebrating the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. Harry spent over 8500 pounds just getting them in the door and then into a private room, set aside exclusively for their party. He then spent another fifteen minutes slowly convincing all of the adults that yes, he could afford this, yes, they can all order what they like, and no, he would in fact be greatly offended if they _ever_ tried to pay him back for this as the entire thing was his wedding present to Bill and Fleur, and to attempt to pay any of it back would be like giving a gift back without even opening it.

As it was, Harry knew for a fact that the whole evening, from limo service, to the restaurant, to the supplies being bought to upgrade the Burrow, none of it would make so much as a dent to the gold in his vault. There might be a _single_ less pile among the heaping piles and piles of galleons, but honestly who could even tell? Besides the goblins that is.

Several hours later, everyone had had a glorious evening and Bill and Fleur were thanking him quite often and the French ladies all kept kissing him on his cheeks, almost constantly. They were finally leaving the restaurant for the long ride home and waiting for the limo driver to return to pick them up, as he wasn't allowed to just sit out front until they were done and had to return to the garage if they were going to be longer than an hour, which they had been. Harry had called a few minutes before they actually left, so the driver would have enough time to actually get there without them waiting for very long.

As it was, the did have to wait around five minutes standing before the beautiful restaurant, but that was fine as after such a fulfilling and delicious meal, they were all quite content and feeling peaceful. Unfortunately, it was during this five minute wait that fate decided to roll the dice. Unfortunate for the Death Eater that had been strolling by that is.

"Potter!" the minion screamed, pulling out his wand, not caring that they were in the middle of muggle London on a busy and crowded street and he was outnumbered thirteen to one and that one of those wizards was Harry Potter himself. All he saw was his comrades dying from a week ago during Harry's... culling of the Death Eaters and battle with Voldemort. And things hadn't been so good for Death Eaters since then, and he honestly wasn't thinking straight. Plus he might have been just a wee bit drunk.

As it was, his shout did draw Harry's attention, and before anyone else even reacted to the man's shout, he glared hard at the obvious Death Eater.

_The Dark Wizard raised his wand and began to shout the Death curse that would end the life of the Boy Who Lived forever, but the words died on his lips, lips that puked up blood suddenly. Harry Potter, warrior for light, champion of good, had transformed himself from an ordinary man standing there, glaring in impotent fury, into a monster straight out of the realm of nightmares._

_The man didn't even have time to scream as slashes ripped into his arms, legs, stomach, chest, shoulders, neck and face. With each new slash and scratch, they actually went deep enough that crimson, almost black, blood literally _exploded _from the wounds and into the air in large arcs of arterial spray. It didn't end there, but oh how the once powerful dark creature wished it had._

_The once man, now standing piece of meat, still could not even scream as the slashes themselves were torn open and apart, drawing forth even more blood spray. Then the beatings started. At first it was soft blows, hard punches, kicks, and slaps. Then they began to break bones on impact and a lot of time was spent on it's chest and stomach, causing untold amounts of internal damage and breaking each rib at least once, some far many more times. Long before that point however, the blows reached the point where the bag of meat was puking up blood every time that a new one landed. It was almost amazing that there had been so much blood and still was any inside the meat bag at all._

_The agony did not quit, it would not stop, not ever, as the monster of nightmares, the Green-Eyed Beast stared with cold, unfeeling, unremorseful hatred down into the very depths of the meat bag's soul and it wished only to breath so that it could break down whimpering, crying out in fear and pain. Everything was pain now, even, _especially _breathing, but then the horrible, horrible Green-Eyed Beast did something that made all other pain seem like pleasure in comparison._

_With almost casual disregard for how impossible it should have been, like a toddler breaking a toy just to see it shatter, the Beast reached into the meat bag's chest and ripped its guts out. Starting with the intestines, it's skin was torn asunder and everything that didn't spill out on its own was rapidly and brutally shredded and any blood still in the body came flying out in a constant fountain, if not as blood itself, then as the minced and liquefied remains of the organs that were also tossed out._

_Finally, the still beating heart was pulled out and held before the bruised, bloody, and broken head, which was just the eyeballs and the skull by now, the jaw having been unhinged and taken out much earlier during the beatings. The rest of the meat's body, not that there was much meat left that hadn't been curie'd, was spread in an ugly Blood Eagle pattern that was straight out of the Dark Ages. Until finally, at last, the Beast allowed it final peace, as it's heart was crushed within the iron grasp of the Beast in an explosion of blood and red meat..._

Harry glared with killing intent at the Death Eater that had noticed him and smirked unconsciously as he stopped before he could pull his wand out, dangerously pale, before his eyes widened in overwhelming fear and he screamed out in sheer terror, running the opposite way, _away_ from Harry Potter, as fast as his terrified little Death Eater legs could move him. Which was pretty damn fast.

Unfortunately not fast enough to outrace traffic, which is what he ran into. Thankfully the accident the death of the dark wizard caused was several blocks away and Harry's limo was already well past it when it finally happened.

_Later That Night_

_The (Transformed) Burrow_

"I still just can't believe it," said Mrs. Weasley, as she tucked Harry into his queen-sized bed in his very own room in the new mansion-like Burrow, no longer having to share with Ron as Ron himself now had his very own room once again. Still decorated in nothing but Quidditch fan paraphernalia, but it had been a few years since Ron was even allowed to have his own room, and the summers Harry had visited, even that hadn't been all his, all the time. "All this, in just a few hours! And it even still looks mostly the same on the outside!"

"Things have changed Mrs. Weasley," said Harry. "I'd like to think for the better in all cases, but unfortunately things are still changing for everybody. I know what you've been trying to do, Mrs. Weasley, keeping Ron, Hermione, and the rest of us all busy, hoping that we just won't have time to think, let alone plan out how to go on from here."

"Now, it's very late dear, and we have a busy day tomorrow, so you need your rest..." the redheaded older woman was suddenly highly agitated and made to leave the room, but Harry made a gesture and the door closed in her face.

"Mrs. Weasley, I think it's long past that you and I had a heart-to-heart, all right?"

For half a moment, the Weasley Matriarch had the look of a trapped animal on her face, combined with the expression Harry'd seen her wear the time she'd been trying to banish a Bogart at the Order's Headquarters at 12 Grimmauld Place. The anguish of losing the ones she loved the most.

The moment passed, and she resumed the mask of her cheery mother-hen persona and answered him, "Why, my dear, I'm afraid I don't know a thing of what you're talking about. Now it is getting rather late, and you've had a busy day, what with all you've done. You need your rest, and tomorrow is your birthday, we can't forget! I know, I'll go and invite all your friends from school, Hagrid would enjoy attending, I'm sure, and dear Remus and Tonks and..."

"Mrs. Weasley," he interrupted, getting up from the bed and walked over to her. "Mrs. Weasley... Molly. Things have changed. Dumbledore's death changed a lot more than just his absence. I've had to grow up. Sooner than most expected, sooner than even I'd planned, but I have. I won't lie to you, but there are just some things that I can't tell you, and as hard as it is for me to ask, I need you to trust me. To trust _in_ me. I can end this war. I _will_ end this war. But to do it, I need you to stop trying to protect me from it."

"But why _you_?" she suddenly screamed, tears already leaking out of her eyes. "You're just a boy, you don't have to do all this! There are adults who..."

"Who have been doing nothing for more than two decades, longer than I've been alive. Voldemort, while powerful and with his own army admittedly, is just one man that should've been running from the government the moment that he opposed them or their laws. Instead, he's been getting away with murder since he was younger than I am now! And much more than that as well! All because the _adults_ who claimed to be in charge and to be responsible did nothing!"

"It's not like that! Things are dangerous right now, and you could be hurt or... or..." she broke off into a sob, and soon was blubbering in his arms, trying to squeeze him to death slowly through one of her patented hugs. But Harry was made of sterner stuff these days and he gave as good as he got. For the longest time they just stood there, embracing one another, her crying and him holding.

"You've been like a mother to me since the first moment I met you," he admitted softly to her, increasing the volume of her cries for a time. "But I've grown now. You can't baby me like I'm some helpless eleven year old on his first trip to the train anymore. Dumbledore understood that sometimes, whether you're ready for them or not, there are just some things that have to be done. Now you have to understand. There are some things that I have to do. And Ron and Hermione are coming with me, like it or not. We'll come back to you. I promise."

"I know that, dear. It's just, I... I d-d-don't want any of you to, to, to..."

"We won't," he promised. "I'll make sure of that. You weren't there, so you couldn't see, but I really did stand up to Voldemort, matching him blow for blow, spell for spell. So when I say that I will not allow myself or any of my friends to die, you can rest knowing that I have the power to back up my promises."

Finally, although not an official binding magical contract by any means, Harry got the older woman to understand the reasons for why they'd be leaving after the wedding. She was still crying about it, and she would miss them terribly until the war was finally over, but at least she would no longer be sabotaging the trio's time together and would allow them to make plans and spend time together without having to sneak around or use transfigured copies to fool everyone else.

__

It was almost midnight when Harry finally went to bed and everyone else was already long asleep and the transformed house was dark and silent. The Copies really did a good job on the insulation.

Ten minutes to midnight, Harry's eyes snapped open and he sat rigid upright in his king-sized bed. His head turned stiffly to the window, the moon light flowing in like streams of a silver-coated spotlight. Moving quickly, but silently, he hastily dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and his wand, staff, and a trinket that he wore on a leather string about his neck, then he left the Burrow and walked towards the hill that stood between the Weasley home and the rest of civilization. It was still within the wards, but it was who he met there that was most shocking.

Joshua, dressed the same as all the other times he met him like this, was standing there with a grim expression, arms crossed and waiting. At least half of him had spent the better part of half a decade with the man, so he could recognize his moods by this point.

Still, it was the young man standing next to Joshua that held the most surprises for young Harry Potter this evening. He was tall, but not overly so. Skinny and a bit small around the shoulders. Not at all stocky, more like a runner's or a Seeker's build. He had wild, untamed, jet black hair, and brilliant emerald green eyes that were covered by thin-rimmed round spectacles. A strong jaw, but not protruding. White skin that saw as much in doors as out, and decent muscles on his otherwise thin frame. He was wearing work boots, loose cotton pants and a cool-looking earth-tone blouse underneath a simple traveling cloak. His forehead was unblemished. Let's say that again, his forehead did _not_ have a scar.

But for all intents and purposes, the young man, without a scar, was Harry James Potter.

He felt like raging against the universe. He felt like interrogating Joshua until he talked. He felt like slugging the new, yet too-familiar face. He felt that same pull that told him this person was a part of him, and he was a part of the young man.

He didn't say anything. The other Harry Potter didn't say anything.

They stared at each other for a full minute after they'd all reached the top of the hill. While they stood there staring, Harry observed the other and tried to figure out what was going on before he tried to do or say anything that might make him look foolish. Joshua had trained him to be observant and to use his observations to his advantage rather than simply react, so that's what he did.

This Harry Potter did not have a scar.

This _was_ Harry Potter.

This Harry Potter was a _part_ of the current Harry Potter.

This Harry Potter was the same age as the current Harry Potter.

All of this leads to only a single, logical conclusion. Joshua had split Harry Potter in two, long before his eleventh birthday. Joshua had split Harry Potter in two before, or at least by his _first_ birthday! And then he'd left one behind to have his parents killed by Voldemort and to survive the Killing curse while harboring a shred of the murderer's soul and magic within him for seventeen years and to be raised by the Dursleys for eleven and to then be split in twain once again. This other Harry Potter, more than likely, had experienced the same splitting upon his eleventh birthday and had obviously been reunited with that part of him just a few weeks prior to this. And now Joshua was finishing the bargain that had been struck, and he was putting all the parts back together again.

Finally, Harry decided that words did need to be said.

"So."

"So," his counterpart returned in the exact same tone. Both of them looked over at Joshua.

The Time Wizard rolled his eyes and sighed at the heavens. "OK, you have questions, that's more than obvious. One of you with quite a few more than the other, but let me start by saying that nothing wrong was done here, all right?"

"Well, we seem to have a bit of time," the Harry of England spoke. "How is it that you splitting me in half _before you even met me_ is 'nothing wrong here'? If you please?"

"I'm a Time Wizard, Harry," said Joshua. "Think about that for half a minute. My first, my _first_ trip was to visit 11-year-old Harry Potter in Surrey, a week or two after his birthday, after he knew he was a wizard and that his parents had been killed by the Dark Lord Voldemort. I spoke with him, and I gave him a choice. He _accepted_ my offer and we continued to talk, and just before I left, I split him in two and took one of them with me. And you'll remember, I took you to sort of a null-place for about two minutes, saying I needed to take care of something real quick, remember that?"

Harry frowned, but the half of him that had experienced that did remember it. It was actually hard to forget anything of those first few days after being split and taken from Little Whining and the Dursleys. He nodded in answer to Joshua's question.

"Well, what actually happened was that I left that Harry there and came back to him about two weeks later, from my point of view. I wasn't even gone a full minute from your point of view. _After_ I split you in two and you agreed to my offer and _made your choice_, that is when I went back in time and split baby-Harry in two as well, taking one to another world where he would receive a very different magical education than either of you two ever did, and leaving the other behind to become you."

"I was raised an orphan," the scar-less Harry Potter finally spoke up. "The world this man left me in was far different than this one. Less advanced for one thing. More advanced in others. For starters, your term for those without magic, what is it? Muddy, munnels, oh that's it! Muggles. Muggles did not exist as separate in my world, instead they relied heavily upon those that _could_ do magic, who were not called witches and wizards, but instead we're called _Mages_."

Checking to see they still had time, he continued, "I was left with one of the Temples in a country known as Emelan. The Temple was known as _Winding Circle_ and was just one of many such places in that world where magic was not only accepted, but taught to those that showed as having the Gift."

"I was shown at an early age to have the talent for what we called Academic Magic, through incidents of what Joshua tells me you might call accidental magic? As such, I was taken in by one of the temples and trained and taught in the ways of magic even as I grew up. It wasn't until I was turning eleven that things began to change."

He took a shuddering breath, and Joshua had to step in and whispered, "It's all right, you can tell him. He's part of you, so he'll know what you do soon enough. Better to show that you trust yourself before you no longer have the choice to demonstrate it." Harry nodded up at the Time Wizard and continued.

"I began to have horrible, horrible nightmares. Night-terrors that would trigger bursts of magic that I could not control no matter what. Shortly after my eleventh birthday, Joshua showed up at Winding Circle, dressed as a traveling mage on errantry. He befriended me and asked me about my nightmares. Nightmares that he tells me you've been having for even longer than I?"

Warrior/Wizard Harry winced, but nodded his understanding. Voldemort and Dementor inspired nightmares would definitely become night-terrors to the unsuspecting.

"He spoke to me of my parents, who I barely remembered, of how he knew what had happened to them. That they were dead, and had been killed by an evil mage that had fragmented his own soul, simply to keep himself from dying!" Nobody could mistake the pure disgust this Harry felt at what Voldemort had done to himself. "And he offered me a choice. He could give me the power and the opportunity to track down my parents' killer and to avenge them. And also greater power that I might use to better help people. As you can see, I accepted his offer, as you did."

Harry nodded in understanding towards Harry, then both looked over at Joshua, who shrugged with a sheepish expression on his face. "This has always been about your choice Harry. After you accepted my offer, the first time in Little Whining, that created an alternate timeline, basically the universe split on that decision. One where you said no, I cast a memory charm and you never so much as guessed that anything happened and you remained whole and were split neither when you were a baby, nor when you turned eleven. And then this timeline, where you said yes. And here we are. If you chose to, you both could even say to hell with this and not fuse, saying you're both happier as individuals if you want. Again, it's your choice."

"So that's why..." both Harry's said at once.

"That's why the emphasis, when I trained the halves that I split when you were eleven, on how important free will is and that there is nothing more important than being allowed to make your own choice. True, I did kind of manipulate you all into trusting me and how I didn't outline my overall plan to you, not that it's much of a plan, but first and foremost I made it your choice to accept my offer, with the understanding of the consequences of your decisions." Both Harry's nodded in understanding at that.

"And to clear up any confusion about what it is that you all know, this guy here," he pointed at the Harry that had spent the past week with the Weasleys and a few weeks with the Dursleys before that, "Is the Harry that was left behind and was raised in England and trained at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, combined with the Harry that I took and trained to be a warrior and is a Master-Rank Battle Mage."

"And this Harry," he pointed at the un-scarred Potter, "is the Harry that I split from baby Harry who was never struck by Voldemort's curse, nor saw his parents murdered before his eyes, and was left behind on the doorstep of Winding Circle to be raised as a mage of that world. When he turned eleven, one stayed behind to achieve the full ranks of both Academic and Ambient mages, and the other I took to another pocket dimension, where I trained him in what you might like to think of as _Magical Espionage_. In laymen terms, where you are Wizard and Warrior, he is Mage and Spy. And we're about outta time," he finished by glancing up at the stars.

Both Harry's looked up at the same moment and recognized the unusual alignment of constellations in the heavens at the moment. Symmetrically aligned into a crest of four side by side; Ursa Minor, Aquila, Leo, and Draco. At the stroke of midnight, they became perfectly aligned, and Joshua gave the pair a nod.

"This is it," W/W Harry said to the other.

"I'm looking forward to it," M/S Harry returned with a grin.

Nodding back at the Time Wizard, they simply smiled at each other, and then stepped forward and gave the other a hug. It had been a long time, but they were finally, all back together again.

The explosion of light and sound made the first fusion seem like a firecracker next to a Type 1A Supernova, and for a few precious moments, midnight in England became high noon.


	7. Parties: Happy Birthday!

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author:Joshua

Disclaimer:J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe. Tamora Pierce is the awesome author of the "Circle of Magic" books that 'Mage-Harry' is taken from, and of course I don't own Winding Circle nor the concepts of Academic and Ambient Magic. Any future Spy-Magic you might see is going to be exactly like the Battle Magic so far, an amalgamation of numerous sources that might not even be 'magic' on their own, but have been twisted in such a way by me. You have been warned.

Summary:A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.

AN: Sorry about being so late with this week's update, even if it's just by one day. Not sure yet, but given the way that my writing has started to slow down here, I may even, unfortunately, miss next week's update entirely. We'll just have to see, I guess. Anyway, Enjoy, Read, Review!

Story:

The next morning, Harry Potter, the _real_ Harry Potter opened his eyes and sat up in his bed. It was odd. In some ways, he was actually four different people fused together into one. In the only way that mattered to him, he had been split and kept apart for his entire life and only now was truly _himself_. Whatever that means.

He had a lot to think about, and judging from the first couple of times... from the fusions of his four parts into two halves, he knew that his magical energy had received another tremendous boost and his magic control was completely shot all over again. Furthermore, his accidental magic incidents would increase once more until he managed to get at least a portion of his control back.

Glancing out the window, he saw that it was dawn, the sun only just beginning to light the sky, not yet over the hills even. Realizing he had a few hours, and no longer had to give a crap about the Trace at all, he remained on his bed and sat cross-legged and began to meditate. Breathing in to the count of seven, holding to the count of seven, breathing out to the count of seven, holding to the count of seven, breathing in, holding, breathing out, holding, and so forth.

As he did so, he felt within and without for all of his magic and began his exercises to regain control once more. Some of his exercises were from his Battle magic training. Some from his Special Field training. Most came from the exercises and meditation techniques he had been taught and trained in since he was a young child when they had marked him as a Mage. That it was discovered shortly after he entered puberty that he had an affinity for both Academic Magic and Ambient Elemental Magic had merely increased his study and use of such techniques. As both a Licensed Master and an Accredited Mage, Harry had been forced to learn how to control ones magic at all times, in all circumstances, no matter what had changed.

By the time Ron came bursting into his room, he had completed his basic meditations and was assured that there would be no instances of accidental magic happening. Of course his established paths and forms for Battle Magic would need to be rebuilt yet again, but he had no reason to anticipate another battle like the one a week ago against Voldemort and almost fifty Death Eaters. There was also a new fusion to process, instead of just two minds and personalities, there were now four that were slowly merging.

"Morning," greeted Ron as he walked in. "Already up?"

"Yeah."

Ron frowned a bit at the quiet response, and was a bit concerned over how Harry was just sitting there like he had something serious on his mind. Or when he'd just had a nightmare about Voldemort.

"Everything OK?" he asked.

Slowly, Harry shook his head. "No. Things are not OK right now."

"What?! Why? What happened?" Ron began to panic.

Harry just sat there and took a deep, slow breath. "I'll tell you later. Let's just say... I had an interesting night, and leave it at that, for the moment."

"Harry," growled Ron, "I thought you said, no more secrets. That you'd be completely honest with us!"

"Ron... I wasn't split into two," said Harry. "I was split into four. And I just merged with my other two pieces last night. Things are just... complicated right now. I can barely think well enough to know whose thoughts I have in my head right now. I'm not up to a question and answer session, not right now. It took me more than a week to recover from the last time, and that was just two 16-year-olds being put back together. Now I've got four 17-year-olds, all screaming in my brain, all of them their own person and different individuals, and in some cases even polar opposites, and I need time to sort things out, all right?"

Ron was just standing there, gob smacked. His mouth wide open and his eyes a bit glazed over. Then his eyes rolled up into his head and he slowly fell forward, on his face, to the floor with a dull thud. Harry blinked and stared at his friend for a moment or two, before finally shrugging and quickly went back to meditating and organizing his now chaotic mind, not to mention his magic!

An hour later, he felt much better, as meditating always helped him in organizing his thoughts, just as much as his magic. Surprisingly, Ron was still passed out on the floor, which might have concerned him, if he hadn't realized he needed peace and quiet and then a few minutes after he'd fainted, silently 'stunned' Ron and left him in a more comfortable position while he meditated.

Quickly getting ready, he made sure that Ron was up before heading down for breakfast. It might've been a touch cruel to only Rennervate him as he was stepping out the door, but Harry knew his friend would be OK with it. After he stopped laughing that is.

Stepping down into the new, Great Hall sized modern kitchen, Harry greeted the rest of the household with a pleasant smile and a cheery disposition. Most of them seemed to still be in shock over how the Burrow had changed, and the older members were even starting to wonder if they hadn't come home to the wrong address somehow.

"Morning everyone!" said Harry as he walked into the kitchen and helped himself to some of the available breakfast. Mrs. Weasley might've still been surprised by what all Harry had done for them, but she was still a mother of over seven children and she made sure to have breakfast waiting for them when they woke up. That it was able to be prepared in a kitchen that was beyond her wildest dreams simply made the experience even more enjoyable than it ever had been before.

"Good morning Harry," a few of the other breakfast-goers returned individually.

"Good morning, dear!" Mrs. Weasley took the time to kiss Harry on both cheeks before going back to her cooking. "Oh, could you pass the bacon, please?"

"Sure," he commented off-handedly while walking away. Behind his back, the bacon floated over from the cold box to within reach of the Weasley matriarch. She didn't even notice as she thanked him and prepared more bacon for the morning meal.

"Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday Harry," said Bill from the breakfast table. A table that could rival any of the long tables at Hogwarts in it's Great Hall.

"Thanks," replied Harry, distractedly.

Nobody really noticed as they all assumed that Harry had plenty to be distracted over, from the new powers he had been displaying recently, to Voldemort, Dumbledore's death, and who knows what else. Not to mention, turning 17, for a wizard is a very big deal, and not just that you can do magic anywhere, anytime, for almost anything you want. Whereas before the only time one could use magic was at school, for study and homework. For many, it could be a heady experience.

What Harry was really thinking about, however, had nothing to do with any of that, not even the events that had given him his new powers. He was actually thinking about the next step of the training he was giving his friends, and how far he would take that training. If it was just Battle Magic, then he could give them the basics and let them work out the details at a later time. If, however, he were to give them _more_...

He was ultimately broken out of his reverie by Ron bungling down the stairs into the dining room/hall, and giving the black-haired green-eyed mage an ugly look as he sat down beside him with his own large breakfast. "That wasn't funny, mate," the red haired wizard hissed at him. Harry just grinned at his friend, clearly holding back his own laughter.

That, Harry thought as he went back to his private thoughts, was the biggest change of turning seventeen for him. Harry no longer thought of himself as a Wizard. He was most definitely still and always would be a magic-user, but the title Wizard no longer applied to who he now was. Neither did Warrior, Master Battle Mage, Sorcerer, Magician, Mage, or any of all those fancy titles.

Supposedly, he could just pick any one of those and nobody would contest his use of such, no matter how outlandish or mythological the name might turn out to be. Nor was he entirely unique that he needed to come up with a completely original name for himself either. There were other Fused-Beings that existed, there were also beings, creatures, and even humans out there that were considerably stronger than he was, even now.

A name for _what_ he was could wait until later, he supposed. For right now, he had to continue with his plans, and make new ones. Ginny, Hermione, and Ron's training came first and foremost, and he needed to see how far he could take them. They would never be able to match him in power or strength, not within any reasonable amount of time, but there might be other ways of training, ways he knew about, yet never focused on himself. For starters, he'd always been a front-line kind of fighter, no matter which side you looked at. Might be nice to have a few others that worked better from the back and sides too.

He finished breakfast rather quickly, soon enough that Ron was only a few bites behind him, and not because he wanted to talk with Harry, but because the youngest Weasley son really ate that fast.

They went back to Harry's room, or at least Harry went back to his room, to get changed and ready for the day's training. Ron joined him about two minutes after, when he was already dressed, carrying a wrapped gift with him. "Here's your present, mate. Best if you unwrap it up here, it's not for my mother's eyes."

Frowning at the odd statement, Harry accepted the gift and tore off the wrapping, and asked, "A book? Bit of a departure from tradition, isn't it?"

"This isn't your average book," said Ron. "It's pure gold: _Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches_. Explains everything you need to know about girls. If only I'd had this last year I'd have known exactly how to get rid of Lavender and I would've known how to get going with... Well, Fred and George gave me a copy, and I've learned a lot. You'd be surprised, it's not all about wandwork, either."

Harry was bringing the full unstoppable force of four indomitable wills to bear upon the urge to keep from laughing in Ron's face. While the Harry Potter that had grown up alongside Ron Weasley had once been in much the same boat, with hardly any experience in dealing with the fairer sex beyond the classroom environment, and would've found the gift useful and insightful, three other Harry Potters that were now sharing the psyche of the young man sitting before him had been privileged to be allowed to explore his sexuality and social situations with girls and women far more often during their individual educations.

The other three could've given a full lecture to Ron on how to woo women that could fill an entire encyclopedia, rather than just a slim hardback book. The one that had grown up with Ron, had known since forever that his two best friends had a 'thing' for each other, and exactly when he and Hermione had started dating, not to mention having spent the first 10 years of his life living in the Muggle world, albeit with the Dursleys, he still recognized a cheap 'Self-Help' book when he saw it, and likewise knew that only a Wizard would think that the title of such a book would in anyway at all have anything to do with waving a wand.

So, all four sides of Harry's psyche had ample reason to fall laughing to the floor at Ron, but likewise all four sides knew that would devastate his friend and were doing their best not to do so now. Once he'd felt he'd mastered the impulse, he grinned, struggling to keep from laughing despite it all, he commented, "Uh, thanks Ron. I appreciate it. I..." he quickly coughed to cover up a snicker that almost escaped, "I'm sure it will come in handy some day. Let's, uh, let's go down and find the girls, shall we? We've got some more training to do."

Clearly surprised, Ron asked as they walked downstairs and outside, "Wha...? You can't be serious mate! I mean, the past few days have been great and all... except for all the running, and I know why you're helping us and all, but today's your birthday! You can't be wanting to work all day and hide out on your _birthday_!"

Grinning back at his friend, he answered, "Well, that's just it. The training isn't for me, it's for you. Secondly, I get to spend time with my friends, and that's the most that I could ever ask for, birthday or not. Lastly, in case you've forgotten, we're leaving after the wedding tomorrow. And given that the wedding _is_ tomorrow, we won't have _any_ time for training during all the preparation, the ceremony, the celebration... We need to get in as much as we can, as soon as we can. Good news is, I spoke with you mother last night, and she's become considerably more agreeable. We don't have to go back to the Training Grotto to work in secret while a bunch of copies are running around here doing chores. We can workout in the front yard if we want to."

At that last bit, Ron's face went from reserved and cautious, to an excited grin matching Harry's as he replied with, "Wicked."

"Hey girls," Harry popped his head into the kitchen, "Ron and I are going out to warm-up, we'll be in the front yard instead of the Grotto. Join us after you've eaten and changed." Then he lead Ron out to the front for a quick warm-up run, that actually ended up being an all-out chase that went the entire diameter of the property.

Fifteen minutes later, just as Ron was about to collapse from heavy breathing, the girls jogged out in T-shirts and knee-length cotton shorts, and while the boys stared for a few moments, the girls were staring for longer due to the shock of no longer needing to sneak around. Shortly, they were all running around the property, even extending the run back into the orchard and coming back around to the front a few times.

None of them could keep up with Harry still, but now by the time they were rolling on the ground gasping for breath, so was he as between the longer distance and the faster pace he was using, he was getting even more of a workout from it. After running, they worked on basic agility and strength enhancing exercises for another two hours, and then a cool-down run, where Harry made them run all-out for one lap and then jog for five more. By then, it was lunch time, and Mrs. Weasley, while confused over the sudden exercising, simply asked what Harry wanted since it was his birthday, and so they had a few of Harry's favorite dishes for lunch.

After lunch, they went into the garden and Harry started coaching them through meditation. Unlike what he'd had them working on so far, though, he now had additional magical training to fall back on beyond Battle Magic, techniques that would work much better for them than simple breath-control and mental focusing.

Once they were all seated, he had them start by counting their heartbeats, not doing much else, just listening and counting. Once they were safely relaxed, Harry took a quick look around and seeing nobody else interested in their activities, he silently got up and walked a complete circuit around the garden. In his trail, he left behind a circle of the same glowing blue fairy fire that ignited when he'd powered up to fight Voldemort a week ago. Once his circuit was complete, he stepped inside and sat back down where he'd been sitting and concentrated a bit of his magic into the circle, igniting the most powerful ward that anyone in the Wizarding world had ever seen or heard of.

Glad that none of them had seen him, he began coaching them in the new meditation, breathing in as they counted out seven heartbeats, holding their breath to the count of seven heartbeats, breathing out for seven beats, holding it out for seven counts, and repeating the process. He slowly counted with them to help them out, his voice soothing and soft, until they were fully relaxed and immersed in the meditation.

Taking a few meditating breaths himself, he waited a few more moments and then activated his aura-sight, although since his merger last night he'd been able to see small amounts of magic in everything around him, it was vague and wispy enough that he could not see it clearly without the Sight. Once he was able to see the magical auras of his friends, he began speaking to them.

"Good, you've all done very good. Keep breathing, keep counting it out, keep it going. Now. I'd like you to feel out, try and sense if there is something within yourselves that you could not sense before."

"Like the pulse of our magic?" Ginny asked, instantly falling back into meditation after asking her question.

"Similar, but it should actually be what is giving out that pulse. If you feel that pulse now, as it is keeping time with your breathing, see if you might be able to follow it to where it came from. Fall deep within yourselves, find the source, the core of your magic. There..." Harry had to squint and shield his eyes a bit as first Ginny, then Ron, and finally Hermione all shone with the pure fire of magic exploding out of their still bodies. It wasn't actually visible, except to him with his aura-sight, but another wizard or witch would be able to _feel_ the sudden pressure that they were giving out.

"Do you feel that?" he asked them.

"I feel... something," said Ron, hesitantly. "I... I... I can't describe it."

"Like raw magic," Ginny supplied.

"Good. Now, go ahead and slowly let go of that feeling, and open your eyes," ordered Harry. He had been momentarily tempted to take them on to the next step, but that was for much later, when they knew what it was they were feeling and knew exactly how to reach for it without even trying for it.

Because they were already trained in how to handle magic, they would progress through this meditation much faster than almost anyone else that would use this, combined with what he'd already had them learn of Battle magic basics, they would soon begin to progress at a rate that many would think of as extraordinary. Still, he did not want to push them too far, too fast.

"Wow, that was amazing," exclaimed Ginny once they had released themselves from meditation.

"I'm glad you think so," Harry grinned down at them, as he was sitting on a stool and they were cross-legged on the ground in a circle. "That, without putting too fine a point on it, was your Magical Core, the source of your magic. Now, without me doing anything, except maybe counting for you, I'd like you all to meditate once more and do it all over again. We'll do this twice more, and it should be easier for you each time. After that, we'll move on to the next step in your training."

"You're going to teach us one of those cool spells you used against You-Know-Who?" asked Ron, excitedly.

"No," he answered immediately, "but I can promise that it won't be more meditation. Sound good?"

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Ron

"Well?" Harry looked at them all expectantly. They immediately got back into their positions and closed their eyes and started to breathe.

He let them fall in and out of meditation for the next hour. At some points, they managed to find and ignite their cores almost in unison. Other times, it was erratic and they could barely maintain their hold on it long enough for their cores to do little more than flicker, while still others, there were points when each of them managed to burn their magic at levels higher than he ever could. Well... higher than he ever would anyway.

That was the big reason for him putting up the ward before they really started meditating. Honestly, he was a bit galled that such precautions weren't put into place whenever magic was being done! Except for cases where a child was unknown to have magic, all of those that were not accredited mages or licensed to perform such magic, they were always placed within a protective circle so as to prevent magical pollution from messing with the environment. _Especially_ when learning and being trained in magic!

Of course, knowing the quirks behind your standard wizard's mind, he realized they probably thought of such pollution as amusing and did nothing more than identify it and think of it as a quirk of whatever spell had been done, rather than residue that had built up and was messing with the very nature of the environment. It would certainly explain Hogwarts, between all of the residue and instances of "accidental magic", the place was soaked in magic and beyond the anti-apparition barrier, among others, the place was almost alive.

Philosophy was for later. For right now, he needed to teach them how to control their magic, and not just how to let it flow through their bodies freely and to be focused through their minds, but to make sure they were not wasting magic and pouring it out all over the place and polluting everything around them.

By the end of the hour, they had finally, all three of them, gotten the hang of what the meditations were supposed to teach them, and they could all reach and tap into their magic cores at will. Still with a bit of effort, and they tended to fall back into the meditation breathing pattern when they did, but they could do it. Rather than move them on into maintaining control, and not leaking magic everywhere, he did as promised and moved on to the next step in their training.

"OK, you can all get up now, work out any kinks you might have, walk around a bit, get the blood flowing," he announced. As they did so, he quietly went around the garden in the opposite direction from when he had first done so, this time absorbing up the magic of the ward he had put in place, and taking down the protection circle.

"So, Harry, what's next?" asked Ron, a bit enthusiastic about the next step.

"Well..." he hesitated for a moment, before coming to an abrupt decision, "That's actually up to you all. If you want, we can stop early, have a few extra hours to get ready for the party tonight. Or we can keep going until your mother calls us in."

"What the...? Have you gone daft?!" shouted Ron. "After all of this, you're suddenly cutting us off, especially with the way you mentioned that we were short enough on time as it is!"

"I have two things that I can teach you, Ron," said Harry, giving them all a sobering look. "Thing is, we only really have time for me to teach you one of them. One... the sooner you get started on it, the better. The other, I've given you the premise and we can work on it later without much detriment to your training. Problem is... this isn't like what I've been teaching you so far, that was a lot like our Fifth Year at Hogwarts, with the DA and everything. What I'll be going into next, it's the next level up."

"Like that Auror-training-level exercises you had us do a few days ago?" asked Ginny.

Harry shook his head.

"Like twenty-year-old veteran Aurors would have trouble keeping up with this kind of training," he explained. "We're moving past the comfort zone of new spells and new ways of using magic. We're getting into what Battle Magic is supposed to be. About fighting. Not dueling, I never want _any_ of you to make that mistake!" he suddenly shouted.

"Battle Magic is not for dueling, where there are rules and ways of doing things and _turns_ at striking at one another. What I'm teaching you here is for the battlefield and wartime use only, which we just so happen to be in the middle of. That means that you don't declare your intentions, you don't face your opponent like a man, you don't defend first and attack after. You kill your enemy with the first shot, you strike him in the back, you do what you have to do to win, no matter what. We're not kids anymore guys, we can't afford to be."

"I'm not backing down," Ron insisted.

"I'm with you all the way, Harry," Ginny was only a beat behind her brother, Weasley stubbornness at its finest, or worst, depending on your point of view.

They all three turned to look at Hermione, who had been quiet so far.

"I... I... I," she stuttered, unable to make up her mind.

"That's fine, Hermione," said Harry with a gentle tone. "You need to take a break for the moment anyway. Ron, since you're so eager, we'll start with you, then I'll work with Ginny until it's time to head in, all right?"

"What? Why can't we all learn together, like we have been?" whined Ginny.

"Several reasons," the suddenly serious Harry answered, "One, what I'm teaching you next is how to fight physically. Muggles, or mortals as I've started to think of them, call it _Martial Arts_. There are, quite literally, thousands of different forms and styles of martial arts. I'm going to teach you exactly five forms, under a single style. My style."

He grinned savagely at them all of a sudden, making them think of a crazed wild animal that was about to attack them just because. "Doesn't really have a name, and I'm not giving it one. The five forms I'll eventually teach you, I've named after the primary elements, mostly because of the attributes of those elements the forms reflect."

He stepped a bit away and then spread his feet apart, bent his knees only slightly and brought his arms and fists to his side, tucked in at right angles. "This is commonly known as the _Horse stance_, a good starting point for many martial arts, and somewhat central to my style. Hermione, my favorite book worm," he paused as she part-glared, part-blushed at him, "you'll probably recognize this, probably won't since you don't seem to be all that interested in martial arts yourself, but this is all strongly based on the muggle martial art of _Tai Chi Chuan_, or just Tai Chi."

"First form," he said with a commanding voice, "Water." Then he began to move. He actually didn't so much move as he _flowed_ from one position to the next, his whole body moving like he had no bones and was filled only with liquid, his arms and legs snapping out like waves against a beach shore, yet absorbing of anything that might move against him.

Ron was fascinated, and Harry thought his friend didn't so much as blink for the entire presentation. The redheaded boy began to feel a passion the likes of which he'd only ever felt about three things in his life. Quidditch, Chess, and the people he cared about it, be they friends or family. Harry's talk of having to kill and fight were scary, but Ron had been faced by scary before, ever since he was eleven years old actually. Still, he couldn't help himself as he recognized that his friend could teach him and show him things that no other wizard had ever even heard of, let alone could do. Ever since he was a child, he'd been overshadowed by his brothers' accomplishments, no matter if they applied to academics, friends, or even pranking. For a while, he thought being the best friend of the Chosen One would be enough, but Harry himself was another obstacle that he fell beneath.

Needless to say, Ron had largely gotten over that, especially with what had happened to his friend recently and just how powerful he had become! Not even V...V... You-Know-Who could stand against him anymore! And now Harry was just... offering all that power to him, freely and without hesitation. Harry would undoubtedly be stronger than him no matter what he did, but still... To be one of only two wizards that could do stuff like this? It was mighty tempting.

Ginny could only stare at her boyfriend and try not to drool all over herself. Once upon a time, a little girl had dreamed of being a princess to marry and live happily ever after with the Boy Who Lived. Then the little girl got mind-raped by the one that _made_ him the Boy Who Lived, grew up with seven brothers, and witnessed the start of another wizarding war on par with what she had only heard about in old horrific war stories before. She never stopped caring about him of course, but the illusion had been wiped away after her years at school.

Now she just saw the Man the Boy had become, saw his true strength, his heart, and the fact that after whatever had happened to him, this... fusion, it had made him hotter than ever, looking as though he were built like some ancient hero out of the old stories, aka ancient myths. Not to mention this martial art he was showing them, really made his muscles stand out, hence why she was trying not to drool on herself.

Harry finished up the first form, taking in their observations privately, not prying or anything, but seeing each reaction to what he was doing. He barely managed to suppress the cocky smirk from his face when he saw Ginny openly staring at his body. Oh yeah, he had it all right.

Hermione, however, was the real problem. He didn't even need magical psychic powers to see the conflict within her, not that he used them at all, but it was clear how confused she was over being trained to fight like this from the look on her face. Even after everything they'd been through, you can't just ignore years of schooling that told her that killing was bad and fighting dirty was also not good. He hoped she could adapt before it was too late, for her and for them.

"Water," he continued his lecture as soon as he finished the form, "as you can probably tell, is my Initial Defensive form. Allowing me to strike, block, absorb, and redirect any and all attacks against me, while still able to counter-attack and even attack first if I so desired. It's pretty basic, once you learn how it flows, but that makes it no less difficult to learn, nor weak to use in a fight."

"Next," he said, returning to the Horse stance, "Earth. My Primary Defensive form."

Where water flowed, earth _slammed_! The moves were blocky and direct, but that just made it all the more devastating when viewed that the punches, kicks, blocks, and sweeps were meant to be used against another human being, and just how much damage Harry could do against someone else. After he finished, he continued his lecture about the Earth form.

"Water is all about absorbing the blow and redirecting it, always moving, never stopping or pausing for even a moment. Earth, is both the same, and the opposite. Earth allows you to absorb the blow, but you don't move, you stop it, and it breaks against you. Same with the attacks, as you put your full strength behind every single blow. There are also no jumps in the Earth form, which is important to remember, and you rarely dodge or redirect. You take it head on and then channel the energy right back into your enemy."

"Next, my Initial Attack form, Fire." Harry noticed Ron's grin suddenly went from 'Cool!' to 'Cackling Out Loud and Screaming Wicked Every Few Seconds'. Although obviously he wasn't cackling just yet, he could easily see the excitement in his best friend's eyes.

Fire, much like Earth, was very direct, although there were many more kicks and punches. Unlike with Earth, however, Fire had you jumping a lot more, to add more power to each blow. The defensive moves, for the few that there were in this form, consisted more of avoiding the blows or parrying them for a counter-attack, so they all could easily see why Harry called this his Initial Attack form.

Afterwards, he moved right along, barely noticing the sweat that soaked his brow. "Air, as you probably guessed by now, is my Evasive form. You can still attack and strike with it, but first and foremost you learn to dodge, evade, and avoid. It's a lot like Water, a bit like Fire, the total opposite of Earth, yet just as important and it is also the first form that I'll be teaching all of you. You can't beat what you can't hit. Double-edged sword, but one that I want to deal against the Death Eaters before they try dealing it against us."

He quickly moved into the demonstration, and he was right, Air was much like Water and Fire, as he just seemed to flow through the motions, from jumping, spinning, kicking, striking, and even blocking and parrying, but he never stopped moving, even once. They could now, also see why Harry had them exercising in agility-exercises and aerobics as much as running and strength-exercises. They would need the conditioning before they even _started_ to learn this form, especially if he was starting them off on it.

Once he had concluded showing them the Air form, he rested back in the Horse stance for a few moments, catching his breath and showing how much of a work out those demonstrations had been just by themselves. Once he'd controlled his breathing, he spoke, "The Final form, is called Lightning. It is my Primary Attack form, because, quite simply, it has _no defensive moves_ whatsoever. From the very start, you attack your enemy with everything that you have, and you do not stop until he is dead, defeated, or running away. You attack all out and you attack first. You do not give them so much as a chance to breathe."

He suddenly straightened from the Horse stance, and looked at them sternly. "I'm not going to teach you Lightning."

"WH—!" Ron started to protest, but was silenced by Harry's glare.

"The only way I will ever teach _any_ of you the Lightning form is if you can defeat me in battle," he told them, speaking mostly to Ron though. "Besides, you need the basics that are taught in the other forms before you can even start learning anything of Lightning. And just to clarify, Ron, when I mean defeat me in battle, I mean no magic, just pure martial arts."

His friend acknowledged that and nodded his head, accepting the challenge.

After having remained silent for most of this, it was startling when Hermione asked Harry a question. "Harry? How... how many martial art styles do you know, besides your style I mean?"

Tilting his head in thought over the interesting question, he pondered it only for a few seconds, before replying casually with, "Oh, between my Wizard and Mage parts, I'd say I know a general to fair amount of street fighting, which is a style all it's own, however undisciplined. Then there are the two different styles that I learned from the Guards and Duke's Soldiers... I also picked up basic defensive work, so, all in all, that's about five styles right there, counting weapons-training as individual styles."

He scratched his chin in thought for another few seconds before continuing, "Then there are they styles that Joshua taught my Warrior part, which included the elemental forms I just told you, but he mainly focused in on what I now recognize as Asian martial arts. Tai Chi, Karate, _little_ bit of Kung Fu, and while I'm not supposed to, he also taught me some Muyi Thai. Then he taught me a little bit of everything to my last part... And I do mean a little bit of everything. Mostly boiled down to the most direct forms pieced together for maximum damage over little effort, mixed with everything else. So, I guess... the answer to your question, Hermione, is... a lot."

"Oh," was all the wide-eyed girl could say.

"Let's get started then!" Ron excitedly got to his feet.

"OK," Harry agreed, "Except that I'm not teaching you forms or an art here Ron, I'm teaching you to fight. So, we'll cover forms later, for right now..." Harry snapped out and punched his friend in the face.

"AAAOOOWWWW!" Ron screamed out as he flew back a few feet and landed on his but before falling to the ground, painfully. "What was that for?!" Thankfully his nose hadn't been broken, instead just his whole face was bruised!

"This is why I offered you the choice to quit early, Ron. And after we're done, or I should say, after I'm done with you, I'll offer Ginny the choice to stop early once more, same with Hermione. But you've made your choice, and now you live with the consequences." Seeing that his rather thick friend wasn't catching on, even as the girls had scrambled out of the way, Harry simplified his statement. "We're fighting Ron, and think about it, if you go ahead and beat me now, I'll teach you the Lightning form right off the bat. But we are fighting, as I said before, the sooner I start you all on this, the better off you'll be in the long run."

"Harry! You can't mean that! Just stop it!" Hermione screamed, hysterical.

He turned to look over at her while Ron was getting up, then glanced at Ginny, who was by her side. The warm brown eyes stared back into hardened green emeralds, then she nodded her head. He was mildly surprised, but grateful all the same. She still understood, and her stubbornness still wouldn't let her quit. Well, he'd have to see just how far that could take her, after she saw what condition Ron ended up in.

"Do you understand yet, Ron?" he asked. "This isn't school anymore. And I'm not your precious, brittle as glass Harry Potter anymore. I want you all to live, but Tom and his Death Eaters are not going to make that any easier, as they will be aiming to kill every single one of us. I aim to make sure that we make that as damn near hard as we can until it becomes an impossibility for them. Besides, think of it this way, would anybody expect you or me to suddenly get physical with a bunch of wand-wavers?"

Ron paused in his next protest as he realized the concept did have merit, however little, as there had still been fist-fights at school, so it wasn't like physical confrontation was anathema to wizards, so much as not their first reaction when going into a fight with another wizard.

"To further entice you, allow me to construct a metaphor you can understand," said Harry. "In Chess, each piece can only move a certain way, you can only move one piece per turn, and the objective is to capture or remove your opponent's pieces from the board, right?"

"Well, yeah," shrugged Ron, not understanding just yet.

"What piece can move virtually anywhere on the board, so long as there are no obstructions or the King isn't in jeopardy?" asked Harry.

Again, Ron shrugged, then answered, "The Queen, of course."

"Well, Ron, right now... you're the King," said Harry. "You can only move a single space at a time, once per turn, and all the other pieces can't move until you're either out of danger or until the next turn. In fact," he turned to the girls, "You're all Kings. So far, we have only been able to react. I can't even call us Pawns at the moment, seeing as a Pawn can move over two spaces away and can attack. You all can't even do that yet."

Ron was frowning, struggling to understand the point that Harry was trying to make.

"What I'm doing now, Ron, Ginny, Hermione... With this training, with the meditation, the exercises, the conditioning, even with this fight right here and now... I'm turning you all into Queens."

Ron almost burst out in indignant refusal, until he understood the metaphor all of a sudden. From the most limited and defensive piece on the board, the playing field, to the most powerful, feared, and even dangerous piece. That convinced Ron all the more of his conviction to do this. But... to fight Harry?

"There's no other way, is there?" he whimpered.

"Look at it this way," Harry said back with a cocky grin, "No matter what happens, you're going to be beat black and blue here, as I'm just plain better than you now. And this isn't about me beating you up either. It's about letting you understand what a fight is really supposed to be about, win or lose."

"You mean pain, injury, and stupid machoism!!" Hermione screeched, unable to hold back any longer.

"That," Harry grinned over at her, "and then the little things. Like pride. Adrenaline. Conviction. Fight or Flight. Vindication. Release. Stress. And even a bit of that whole 'talk with your fists, not with your words' mentality that a lot of fighters talk about. If I could've, I would have found some way to go back in time and start every single one of us on martial arts before we even went to Hogwarts! Now, ready or not Ron, we're done talking, and it's time to fight!"

Harry stalked forward, leading with his fist. Ron, not wanting to get knocked on his arse all over again, side-stepped and then threw his first punch at his best friend. Harry's leading fist angled back into a simple wave, blocking the punch and throwing Ron off-balance a bit. A simple shove from Harry's other hand put the redhead back on his now very sore butt in short order.

Harry paused as Ron slowly got back to his feet. "There's a reason that you hear in movies, TV shows, books, and other fiction, where a fighter is telling the guy he's fighting to stop holding back and fight him for real. The way you're moving now, you couldn't hit a fly. I understand that you don't want to hurt me Ron, but all the same, you need to move and act and react the same way you would in a real fight. You don't have to kill me, in fact I'd rather you didn't. But we all know healing spells, and for those of us who don't, we'll teach you. So no permanent harm done, all right? Now, seriously this time, again!"

Ron hesitated one last time, thinking over Harry's words, and realizing the truth behind them. He wouldn't go up against Malfoy like he just had been, he'd strike hard, fast, and without mercy. He was just finding it a bit hard to think of Harry as Malfoy... until he remembered the mock-dueling that was done in the DA during Fifth Year. Some of those spells could've been used maliciously, and he even had used the same spells he used against Hermione and Neville against Crabbe and Goyle. So why not the same thing, but with fists instead of wands?

Ron nodded once, to signal to his friend that he now understood, and as a result he shifted his footing, so he was no longer standing, but coiled and tensed to spring at any moment. He did a moment later, lashing out with wild and uncoordinated fists at Harry.

No more words were spoken as the fight finally started. Not that it was really a fight, but that's how Hermione saw it, and she was doing all she could not to chew her lip bloody and pull out all her frizzing hair.

Moving much more surely, Ron advanced this time and threw a basic straight punch at Harry's head, only to have the shorter youth duck under the punch, side-step to the left and shove with his right hand against Ron's shoulder. The redhead stumbled a bit, but managed to keep his footing so he didn't fall on his arse all over again.

Frowning, he thought over his actions and Harry's reactions. Adjusting his footing to a wider stance and stepping on the balls of his feet for further balance, he struck out again, moving a bit faster this time. Harry ducked again, but this time it was Ron who side-stepped and jumped back a little. He wasn't about to get caught by the same move three times in a row!

Smiling that his friend was adapting and learning quickly, Harry nodded back at him, then moved in on the offensive. Unlike Ron however, he did not attack with a straight punch, but a roundhouse two-fist combo. The first punch, Ron tried to mimic Harry by ducking underneath it, only to be slammed to the ground by the second that caught him full out.

"Shoulda seen that coming," Ron mumbled, slowly getting back to his feet, his face throbbing in sheer agony. He shook his head to clear any cobwebs and raised his fists in the classic boxer pose, choosing to stay on the offensive for as long as Harry would let him.

He kept mostly to straight punches, but he also kept in mind to not let Harry catch him in the side anymore, and to not retreat more than a single step, as that seemed to indicate to his opponent that they were switching positions in the fight, and every single time that Harry went on the offensive, Ron wound up on the ground with a new sore.

Off to the side, watching this with both interest and mounting dread, Hermione and Ginny stared at the fighting boys, although both of them were slowly beginning to realize that this was not, in truth, a fight of any sort. Hermione, while not extremely interested in the martial arts, was familiar enough to know some terms associated with it. One of those terms that came to mind at the moment was the word _spar_. When sparring, two martial artists would sort of play-act a fight. Usually this was done with padding, but the hits were real and injuries such as bruises and scrapes were bound to happen.

After Harry knocked Ron to the ground for the twelfth time in a row, their bushy-haired bossy friend slowly began to relax her tension. They weren't fighting, not really. Not at all in fact, she finally realized. They were just sparring. Harry was teaching Ron how to fight, and while that was abhorrent to Hermione's sensibilities, it dawned on her that it was a necessity in the war they were now involved in.

Then she remembered that Harry would be teaching her how to fight as well, and her tension mounted.

Harry and Ron's sparring match went on for the better part of the next hour, and by the end of it, Ron had almost as many bruises as freckles on his body, not to mention all the dust from getting knocked to the ground all the time.

"First thing, Ron," Harry announced after he'd called an end to the bout, "is I teach you how to fall right. Most of what hurt you there was when you hit the ground. In fact, here, all of you pay attention," he gathered them all around him, "This will only take a few minutes to show you and while I'm sparring with Ginny, Ron, you and Hermione can be practicing this." He then proceeded to show them how to fall to the ground without injuring themselves further during a fight. Or even just when tripped or falling over by other means.

After explaining and then a few rounds of demonstrations from him, he had them all practice it at least twice before he turned to Ginny and offered her the opportunity to quit early for the day. "So, Ginny, after seeing how bad I beat your brother black, blue, and red all over, you still want to do this? If you want, we can move on to the next phase of magical training."

"Are you kidding?" Ginny gushed, excited, "I'm so going to kick your arse, Potter!" She then jumped up and proceeded with a high jump kick, which Harry knocked to the side, throwing Ginny to the ground, where she immediately demonstrated how well she had learned how to fall.

"Lesson number two," Harry commented with a grin, accepting Ginny's willingness to spar, "Don't try anything that you aren't ready for. Pushing yourself is good, but only after you're firmly grounded in what you already know. Stick to punching, like Ron, or if you want to use kicks, try not to jump too often. You leave lots of holes in your defense when you do that, and that is not a good thing."

Nodding, the red haired girl accepted the criticism and assumed a similar boxing stance to what Ron had displayed earlier. Raising an eyebrow at the familiar form, he turned briefly to Hermione and commented, "Street fighting. Or as the rest of us learned it, School Brawling."

He caught Ginny's fist that had been coming in at his face while he was looking at the other girl. "Good Ginny, you were paying attention earlier," he said, looking back at her. "Lesson number three, don't attack unless you're defenses will stop the counter-attack. Or, if it's worth it, make sure that your attack does more damage than the one you let slip through." He then twisted her arm and backhanded her with his other fist.

Crying out at the impact, and then at the pain of having her arm twisted in a way it was not meant to go, Ginny struggled for a moment before finally wrenching her caught arm out of Harry's grasp and spinning away from him. As she did so, she cocked and fired a roundhouse kick into his gut that actually made the more experienced fighter retreat a step or two while she recovered.

Growling, more to herself than him, she grimaced and faced him once more, this time with a scowl that would intimidate Snape into backing off. Harry merely grinned back at her and waited, his stance casual and his arms by his sides, the sign of a very experienced fighter in Ginny's experience. They may not talk about it, but the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin went a lot further than Quidditch and Malfoy and Harry. Catfights in bathrooms were not all that uncommon, and the uglier and bulkier girls of Slytherin tended to gang up on the younger or smaller girls more often than not.

After her Second Year, without her brothers ever having suspected a thing, Ginny had very quickly become proficient in melee fighting. At first she was limited to the whole catfight cliché, pulling hair, gouging pressure points, ripping clothes, scratching, biting, that kind of thing. When the opponents became too numerous, or too skilled for that to work any longer, Ginny had turned to other means. So she now turned her considerable skills, which she'd acquired over the years, against her boyfriend to demonstrate.

Moving in low and fast, she tried some basic sweeps, which Harry casually stepped over. When he tried to "take advantage of" her dropped guard, her hand snapped up and grabbed his wrist, digging in with her nails, she pulled down on him, while likewise pulling herself up to drive her knee home to the sweet spot. Doesn't matter if it's male or female, though males have a bigger target, a shot to the legs _always_ near-paralyzes the victim with pain.

Surprisingly, Harry didn't seem affected by her nails digging into his flesh, and he almost casually used his other arm to block her knee, while he brought his right leg up, cocked and kicked her right in the gut, flinging her back off of him and rolling along the ground, painfully trying not to puke up her last three or four meals. Coughing and gasping, she rolled onto her knees and checked what damage, if any, she had done.

Staring in wide-eyed amazement, they all saw blood dripping from Harry's right hand, where she had gouged her fingernails as a handhold, and apparently had gone deeper than she'd thought. Yet still, he just stood there impassively, in the same pose he'd been in when they started!

"Harry!" Hermione screamed. "You're bleeding!"

Frowning, Harry glanced down, then over at his friend before sighing and holding up the bleeding appendage as though showing her something. They couldn't stop staring when they saw the long scratches heal up before their very eyes! It wasn't instantaneous, it took a full minute before the progress was even noticed, and he did keep bleeding, but it was clearly healing a _lot_ faster than it should've!

"Like I said earlier, those of us that know healing spells will be teaching those that don't," was all he said to their stunned expressions. "C'mon Ginny, we're not through yet. But nice job. You've already done more than Ron could after his turn!"

"Oi!" the mentioned Weasley exclaimed, even as he continued to practice his falling.

Shrugging and sighing about self-conscious siblings, Ginny got back to her feet and ran back for more punishment. She didn't let Harry quit until they'd actually gone over an hour, even after he kept telling her that they should stop before she got hurt even worse that a few bruises.

"What's the matter... Potter?" she gasped, breathing heavily, sweating, and wavering on her feet a little. "Fraid to get beat by a... girl? Huh?"

Harry just sighed and shrugged, not even sweating anymore. She'd gotten hits off of him, but nothing she could do would send him tumbling to the ground, while just about every hit he threw had that result against her. "Stop... holding... back!!" she finally screamed, running in as fast as she could with a punch-kick-punch combo.

He sighed again, as though she were moving in slow motion it seemed, he replied back to her, "You want me to stop holding back? OK, I'll stop holding back." Then he drew back his left fist and moving faster than she'd ever seen _anything_ move before, he _blurred_ forward and she felt like she'd just been hit with the Bludgeoning Hex at point blank range, right before she found herself flying through the air.

From Ron and Hermione's point of view, Ginny screamed some nonsense, then started staggering forward, right before Harry moved so fast that there were after-images of him against their retinas, and the next thing they knew, Ginny was shooting back almost all the way to the hills like somebody had shot her out of a cannon! She rag-dolled against the ground for a few meters before coming to a skidding halt.

They all stared, too stunned to do anything at first, but finally, Ron snapped out of it, getting to his feet and screaming, "GINNY!" Only to be stopped by Harry, putting his arm out to stop them from moving.

"Wait," was all he said.

"What are you talking about?! Are you daft?! How could you _do_ something like that! That's my little sister! You can't do something like that, mate, I don't care who you think you are...!"

"I said, wait," repeated Harry with a hard look.

While they were arguing, which was less than a few seconds really, Ginny had regained sense of herself and was already pulling herself back to her feet and walking back towards them. "GINNY!" exclaimed Ron, as he tried to race forward again, but Harry still held him back.

When she was within speaking range, Harry asked her, "You all right, Ginny?"

"Yeah," she called, grumbling about her sores. "You still held back, didn't you?"

"I'm not going to kill you guys while I'm training you to survive," he shot back with a grin. "Still, you were begging for me to show you just how much stronger I am now."

"How much further do you think you could've thrown me?" she asked him.

"I didn't throw you, I _pushed_ you, same as I was doing with Ron earlier," he answered. "And actually I could've _pushed_ you all the way to the village without seriously injuring you, but I figured that probably would've been a bit much, huh?"

"Yeah, probably," she giggled a bit.

"Are you two mental or something?" Ron asked, staring incredulously at his friend and sister.

"Hermione?" Harry asked rather than answer Ron's rhetorical question.

"Uh..."

"I promise not to push you?" he offered.

"I'll wait, but I will keep practicing how to fall and all that," she promised.

"Fair enough," he said with a shrug. "Now hold still Ginny while I heal you up, all right?"

"Fine," she grumbled again, although the smile she gave him sort of ruined it.

Half an hour later, they all went in for lunch, and everyone revealed their presents for Harry's birthday to him, many having used the training that had occupied his time to finish preparing them and putting them all in place. It also gave time for Hagrid, Remus and "Tonks" Lupin, and a few other guests to finally arrive, including the second oldest Weasley son, Charlie, who'd Floo'd in from Romania for the occasion.

Rather than sneaking them off for even more training, they all used the rest of the afternoon to prepare for the birthday party that would soon be starting. Pulling out his Firebolt, with Charlie, Bill, Ginny, Ron, and Fred and George, they all played an impromptu game of Quidditch that lasted much of the day. After the game, they had just enough time for everybody to grab a shower and then get dressed and ready and then out to the garden for the party.

Oh, the new "dining hall" would have been more than sufficient, but as large as it was, it was also a bit spartan, and the garden had a far more pleasant atmosphere, with the setting sun, the fresh breezes, and the pleasant aromas spreading from all the plant life around them. The sun was low on the horizon and the party was going splendidly, with Harry thanking everyone for their gifts.

The first gift, happened to be from Mrs. Weasley. She handed it to him and explained, beaming at him all the while, "Arthur told me to wish you a happy seventeenth, Harry. He had to leave early for work, but he'll be back for dinner, soon I hope."

Harry sat down, took the square parcel she had given him, and unwrapped it. Inside was a watch very like the one Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had given Ron for his seventeenth; it was gold, with stars circling around the face instead of hands.

"It's traditional to give a wizard a watch when he comes of age," said Mrs. Weasley, watching him anxiously from the side. "I'm afraid that one isn't new like Ron's, it was actually my brother Fabian's and he wasn't terribly careful with his possessions, it's a bit dented on the back, but—"

The rest of her speech was lost; Harry had got up and hugged her. He tried to put a lot of unsaid things into the hug and perhaps she understood them, because she patted his cheek clumsily when he released her, almost on the verge of tears all over again.

"Seventeen, eh!" said Hagrid as he accepted a bucket-sized glass of wine from Fred. "Six years ter the day since we met, Harry, d'yeh remember it?"

"Vaguely," said Harry, grinning up at the half-giant. "Didn't you smash down the front door, give Dudley a pig's tail, and tell me I was a wizard?"

"I forge' the details," Hagrid chortled. "All righ', Ron, Hermione?"

"We're fine," said Hermione. "How are you?"

"Ar, not bad. Bin busy, we got some newborn unicorns, I'll show yeh when yeh get back—" Harry shared a knowing grin with his friends, while Hagrid rummaged in his pockets. "Here, Harry—couldn' think what ter get yeh, but then I remembered this." He pulled out a small, slightly furry drawstring pouch with a long string, evidently intended to be worn around the neck. "Mokeskin. Hide anythin' in there an' no one but the owner can get it out. They're rare, them."

"Thanks, Hagrid!" he knew a few items already that would be going into this little present.

"'S'nothin'," said Hargid with a wave of a dustbin-lid-sized hand. "An' there's Charlie! Always liked him. Hey! Charlie!" Rather than listen to that rather interesting conversation, Harry merely turned back to and opened the remainder of his presents.

"Happy birthday, Harry!" wished Hermione for what felt like the dozenth time that day.

"Come on, then, open Hermione's!" said Ron, practically shoving the gift into his hands. Boy really needed to learn tact, although it was clear he was just trying to get on Hermione's good side.

She had bought him a new Sneakoscope. The other packages contained an enchanted razor from Bill and Fleur, that he was very reluctant to _ever_ use! Some rare European Chocolates from the Delacours, and an enormous box of the latest Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes merchandise from Fred and George. Surprisingly, it was Ginny's gift that Harry appreciated the most, but it wasn't something one opened in the middle of the backyard garden, let alone during his birthday party. coughSnog-festcough

It was getting a bit late, and Mrs. Weasley was starting to get noticeably edgy. She was trying to talk to Madame Delacour while glancing repeatedly at the gate. "I think we'd better start without Arthur," she finally called out to them after a moment or two. "He must have been held up at—oh!"

They all saw it at the same time; a streak of light that came flying across the yard and onto the table, where it resolved itself into a bright silver weasel, which stood on its hind legs and spoke with Mr. Weasley's voice. "Minister of Magic coming with me!" The Patronus then dissolved into thin air, leaving everyone peering in astonishment at the place where it had vanished.

"We shouldn't be here," said Lupin at once. "Harry... I'm sorry... I'll explain another time, but..."

He seized Tonks' wrist and pulled her away, but Harry reached them first. He whispered hurried instructions, the gist of which was, "You don't have to leave just yet Mooney. Hurry inside the house, you can hid out in one of the sitting rooms. You just go—" he then proceeded to give them detailed instructions on where to hide in the renovated house and what signal he would use to tell them the coast was clear.

Lupin was clearly reluctant, but they were short on time as it was, and this time it was Tonks grabbing his wrist and dragging him off towards the spot Harry told them to go to. "Hagrid, you'd better join them, just in case," Harry reluctantly suggested as well. The half-giant nodded, equally reluctant, but followed after the Last Marauder and his wife.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Weasley was halfway to a meltdown, "The Minister—but why? I don't understand—"

Unfortunately, there was no time to discuss the matter further, as a second later, Mr. Weasley had appeared out of thin air at the gate, accompanied by Rufus Scrimgeour, instantly recognizable by his mane of grizzled hair.

The two newcomers marched across the yard toward the garden and the lantern-lit table, where everybody sat in silence, watching them draw closer. As Scrimgeour came within range of the lantern light, Harry saw that he looked much older than the last time they had met, even more scraggy and grim too.

"Sorry to intrude," said Scrimgeour, as he limped to a halt before the table. "Especially as I can see that I am gate-crashing a party. Many happy returns," he added with a look in Harry's direction.

Harry was instantly suspicious, enough so that he threw away common politeness and reached out with his Mind Magic to determine the duly-appointed Minister of Magic's true motives for his sudden arrival. Harry had his answers forthwith.

Smiling pleasantly at the battle-scarred old wizard, he greeted him warmly, "Thank you very much Minister, and you're not intruding at all. In fact, if your invitation was lost at some point, I would like to offer my most humblest apologies on the error."

Scrimgeour stared at the seventeen-year-old for a few moments, before twisting his smirk up at one edge. "Sarcasm does not become you, Mister Potter," he commented.

"I require a private word with you," Scrimgeour went on. "Also with Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger."

"Us?" said Ron, sounding surprised. "Why us?"

"I shall tell you that when we are somewhere more private," said Scrimgeour. "Is there such a place?" he demanded of Mr. Weasley.

"Yes, of course," replied Mr. Weasley, who looked rather nervous. "The, er, sitting room, why don't you use that?"

"Nah," interrupted Harry before anymore could be said. "I know the perfect place. Meeting Room number twelve! C'mon, follow me, I'll show you where it is." He then lead his two friends and the Minister of Magic into the transformed Burrow, by-passing the remodeled kitchen and dining hall, and taking them up a few flights of stairs before down multiple intersecting halls and through three separate rooms before finally stopping in what appeared, for all appearance sake, to be a corporate meeting room, complete with long table and comfortable chairs. If they all didn't know better, they'd swear they could've been in some muggle high-rise building and never would've known the difference.

"Sorry about the long walk, Magical Elevators haven't been put in yet," he apologized to the wheezing Scrimgeour and his two out-of-breath friends.

"How—? No, never mind, not my department," Scrimgeour just shook his head at the clearly impossible changes that had been performed on the Burrow, and took a seat at the head of the table. Ron and Hermione, at Harry's insistence, sat down at the table as well, but Harry chose to remain standing.

"I have some questions for the three of you, and I think it will be best if we do it individually If you two," he pointed at Harry and Hermione, "can wait outside, I will start with Ronald."

"I'm very sorry, Minister Scrimgeour, but I'm afraid that simply won't do. We're not going anywhere," said Harry, while Hermione nodded vigorously, and Ron looked like he'd swallowed a frog, "You can speak to us together, or not at all. And seeing as it is my birthday, and you did come up to us out of the blue with this, the choice is yours to ask your questions, or give us our property and leave." He then gave the Minister a rather cheeky grin with twinkling eyes.

Scrimgeour gave Harry a cold, appraising look. Harry had the brief impression that the Minister was wondering whether it was worthwhile opening hostilities this early, but he knew outright the man was too much of a politician to do that, and they only opened outright hostilities either when they were attacked first, or had their opponent outflanked at every turn, which he did not in this case.

"Very well then, together," he said, shrugging. He cleared his throat. "I am here, as I'm sure you know, because of Albus Dumbledore's will."

Ron and Hermione both looked at Harry, whom did not take his gaze off the Minister for a second. He was standing across from the older lion-maned man with his arms crossed and a slight smile on his face. Scrimgeour grunted and just jerkily nodded his head, accepting that, Harry at least, did know about the will.

"A-all of us?" said Ron after several moments silence. "Me and Hermione too?"

"Yes, all of you," answered Scrimgeour. Before he could continue, however, Harry spoke up.

"Tell me Minister," he said, "Dumbledore died over a month ago. Why has it taken this long to give us what he left us?"

"Isn't it obvious?" said Hermione with a tone of accusation, staring right at Scrimgeour, getting angrier with every word she spoke. "They wanted to examine whatever he's left us. You had no right to do that!"

"I had every right," said Scrimgeour dismissively. "The Decree for Justifiable Confiscation gives the Ministry the power to confiscate the contents of a will—" Hermione interrupted him out of the blue, nearly shouting the poor man down.

"That law was created to stop wizards passing on Dark artifacts," she yelled at him, "and the Ministry is supposed to have powerful evidence that the deceased's possessions are illegal before seizing them! Are you honestly telling me that you really thought Dumbledore was trying to pass us something cursed?"

"Are you planning to follow a career in Magical Law, Miss Granger?" asked Scrimgeour with a scowl.

Before Hermione could answer, Harry laughed and leaned forward on the table, resting his arms on his fists, "She's going to have your job before too long here Minister. After all, somebody's got to reverse all those laws and start doing what the job was created for, taking a stand and protecting the citizens of the magical community. You know, do some good in the world, for a change."

Ron laughed. Scrimgeour's eyes flickered toward him and away again as Harry spoke.

"So why have you decided to let us have out things now? Can't think of a pretext to keep them?"

"No, it'll be because the thirty-one days are up," said Hermione at once. "They can't keep the objects longer than that unless they can prove they're dangerous. Right?"

Scrimgeour squirmed in his seat a little. He was not expecting to be one upped like this.

"Would you say you were close to Dumbledore, Ronald?" asked Scrimgeour, ignoring Hermione and Harry. Ron looked startled. Panicked for a moment, he glanced over at Harry, who just winked and smirked at him, reminding the youngest Weasley son of a few of his older brothers. The Twins in particular.

"Me?" he flustered for a moment. "Well... not really... as well as some other students, but he was a nice old coot. Always offered me a Lemon Sherbert whenever I came to his office. He also made me a Prefect my Fifth Year, so he must've liked something about me, I suppose. Besides, it was always Harry who..." Ron glanced around at his friends, to see Hermione giving him a _stop-talking-now!_ sort of look, but the damage had been done; Scrimgeour looked as though he had finally heard exactly what he had wanted to hear. He swooped like a bird of prey upon Ron's answer.

"So you say you were not as close to Dumbledore as some other students, how do you account for the fact that he remembered you in his will? He made exceptionally few personal bequests. The vast majority of his possessions, his private library, his magical instruments, and other personal effects, were left to Hogwarts. Why do you think you were singled out?"

"I... dunno," said Ron after a healthy pause. "How the hell am I supposed to know what was going through the crazy coot's old mind? He was brilliant, but a weird sort of brilliant, y'know? For all I know, he might've thought I would find a bit of fun with whatever he left for me, whether it be one of his old socks, or that really cool Pensieve he left behind!"

Hermione was stunned at Ron's reaction, which was actually close to how his reaction might be if one of his brothers might've asked the same question. As it was, she didn't stop him when she should've, her mouth hanging open at his brash and unbiased response. However, Scrimgeour did not seem to see it as such, instead a look of mild disappointment flitted across his face, as he put his hand inside his cloak and drew out a drawstring pouch much larger than the one Hagrid had given Harry. From it, he removed a scroll of parchment which he unrolled and read aloud.

"_'The Last Will and Testament of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore'_ ... Yes, here we are... _'To Ronald Bilius Weasley, I leave my Deluminator, in the hope that he will remember me when he uses it.'_" Scrimgeour took from the bag an object that Harry had seen before: It looked something like a silver cigarette lighter, but it had, he knew, the power to suck all light from a place, and restore it, with a simple click. Scrimgeour leaned forward and passed the Deluminator to Ron, who took it and turned it over in his fingers, looking stunned. Harry was trying to hold in his laughter at first, but when his aura-sight took note of exactly what the Deluminator had been charmed to do, he quickly schooled his features.

"That is a valuable object," said Scrimgeour, watching Ron. "It may even be unique. Certainly it is of Dumbledore's own design. Why would he have left you an item so rare?"

Ron shook his head, looking bewildered.

"Dumbledore must have taught thousands of students," Scrimgeour persevered. "Yet the only ones he remembered in his will are you three. Why is that? To what use did he think you would put his Deluminator, Mr. Weasley?"

"Dunno," Ron admitted. "Like I said, probably thought I might have a bit of fun with it. As for what I'd do with it... put out lights, I s'pose. What else could I do with it?"

Evidently Scrimgeour had no suggestions. After squinting at Ron for a moment or two, he turned back to Dumbledore's will.

"_'To Miss Hermione Jean Granger, I leave my copy of '_The Tales of Beedle the Bard'_, in the hope that she will find it entertaining and instructive.'_" Scrimgeour now pulled out of the bag a small book that looked as ancient as the copy of _Secrets of the Darkest Art_ that she had in her expanded bag, which she'd taken to learn of Horcruxes and how to destroy them. Its binding was stained as peeling in places. Hermione took it from Scrimgeour without a word. She held the book in her lap and gazed at it. Harry saw that the title was in runes; saying simply "The Tales of Beedle the Bard (First Edition)" and a faded out space for the author. As they all stared, a tear splashed onto the embossed symbols.

"Why do you think Dumbledore left you that book, Miss Granger?" asked Scrimgeour.

"He... he knew I liked books," said Hermione in a thick voice, mopping her eyes with her sleeve.

"But why that particular book?"

"I don't know. He must have thought I'd enjoy it."

"That," Harry suddenly interrupted the Minister, "or that she needed to learn a few lessons that are printed out on it. Hermione's always been somewhat of a head case, always believing what books tell her," he ignored the glare she sent him then, "and not letting herself absorb the lessons of life. Any other questions, Minister?"

Trying not to growl, Scrimgeour just turned back to Hermione and asked, "Did you ever discuss codes, or any means of passing secret messages, with Dumbledore?"

"No, I didn't," said Hermione, still wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "And if the Ministry hasn't found any hidden codes in this book in thirty-one days, I doubt that I will."

She suppressed a sob. Ron reached across the table and took Hermione's hand in his and squeezed, offering his support. Harry came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders for a bit as a means of showing the same support, but he moved back to his position on the other side of the table, facing the Minister afterwards. Scrimgeour turned back to the will.

"_'To Harry James Potter,'_" he read, and Harry's insides contracted with a sudden excitement, though he was careful that outwardly he looked rather bored, "_'I leave the Snitch he caught in his first Quidditch match at Hogwarts, as a reminder of the rewards of perseverance and skill.'_" As Scrimgeour pulled out the tiny, walnut-sized golden ball, its silver wings fluttered feebly, and Harry could not help the smirk that crossed his features when he saw it. For several reasons, but the one he wanted to convey to Scrimgeour was of fond remembrance and the weird gifts of an old grandfather.

"Why did Dumbledore leave you this Snitch?" asked Scrimgeour.

"No idea," said Harry. "For the reasons you just read out, I suppose . . . to remind me what you can get if you . . . persevere and whatever it was. And there's the fact that it was the first ever Snitch that I ever caught, and it would help me remember . . . better times . . . at Hogwarts, to offset any adult memories that might depress me. Actually, I should be thanking you for coming here, Minister, as this so far has been the best birthday present I've gotten yet."

"You think this a mere symbolic keepsake, then?"

"Sure," said Harry. "What else could it be?"

"I'm asking the questions," growled Scrimgeour, shifting his chair a little. "I noticed that your birthday cake is in the shape of a Snitch," he said to Harry, "Why is that?"

Hermione and Harry both laughed, rather derisively.

"I like Quidditch," was all Harry said while Hermione added, "Oh, it can't be a reference to the fact Harry's a great Seeker, that's way too obvious. There must be a secret message from Dumbledore hidden in the icing!" She laughed some more.

"I don't think there's anything hidden in the icing!" exclaimed Scrimgeour, "But a Snitch would be a very good hiding place for a small object. You know why, I'm sure?"

Harry just shrugged. Hermione however, no longer laughing, answered. Privately, Harry thought that answering questions correctly was such a deeply ingrained habit that she could not suppress the urge. "Because Snitches have flesh memories," she said.

"What?" said Harry and Ron together; neither having considered Hermione to know that much about Quidditch, let alone be able to answer a question they couldn't.

"Correct," said Scrimgeour. "A Snitch is not touched by bare skin before it is released, not even by the maker, who wears gloves. It carries an enchantment by which it can identify the first human to lay hands upon it, in case of a disputed capture. This Snitch," he held up the tiny golden ball, "will remember your touch, Potter. It occurs to me that Dumbledore, who had prodigious magical skill, whatever his other faults, might have enchanted this Snitch so that it will open only for you."

Harry just stared at Scrimgeour, not reacting, though internally his heart was racing a bit.

"You don't say anything," said Scrimgeour. "Perhaps you already know what the Snitch contains?"

He did, but he wasn't about to give any hints to the suspicious old man. "No," he said finally.

"Take it," said Scrimgeour quietly.

Harry met the Minister's yellow eyes and knew he had no option but to obey. He walked around the table, on Ron's side, held out his hand, and Scrimgeour leaned forward again and placed the Snitch, slowly and deliberately, into Harry's palm.

Nothing happened. As Harry's fingers closed around the Snitch, its tired wings fluttered and were still. Scrimgeour, Ron, and Hermione continued to gaze avidly at the now partially concealed ball, as if still hoping it might transform in some way.

"That was dramatic," said Harry coolly. Both Ron and Hermione laughed.

"That's all, then, is it?" asked Hermione, making to get up from her office chair.

"Not quite," said Scrimgeour, who looked bad-tempered now. "Dumbledore left you a second bequest, Potter."

"Oh? What is it?" he asked, still sounding outwardly bored.

Scrimgeour did not bother to read from the will this time.

"The sword of Godric Gryffindor," he said.

Hermione and Ron both stiffened. Harry looked around for a sign of the ruby-encrusted hilt, but Scrimgeour did not pull the sword from the leather pouch, which in any case looked much too small to contain it. That was OK though, as Harry knew exactly where he could get it from any time he really needed it. The same place he got it from in the first place.

"So where is it?" Harry asked to fulfill Scrimgeor's suspicions.

"Unfortunately," said Scrimgeour, "that sword was not Dumbledore's to give away. The sword of Godric Gryffindor is an important historical artifact, and as such belongs—"

"It belongs to Har—!" Hermione began to say, but Harry interrupted her.

"It actually belongs to Hogwarts, as part of it's history, but as I understand a few lessons from History class, the sword of Godric Gryffindor was forged and given to him by the goblins, correct? According to their laws, anything they make for us, we're renting until we die, and seeing how Gryffindor is very much dead, the sword should be returned to them. And even if you had brought it here for me, I would probably go ahead and give it to them as a personal favor. It's always nice to have a goblin indebted to you for something like that."

"This is not a joke, Potter!" growled Scrimgeour, rising to his feet. "Was it because Dumbledore believed that only the sword of Godric Gryffindor could defeat the Heir of Slytherin? Did he wish to give you that sword, Potter, because he believed, as do many, that you are the one destined to destroy He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"Interesting theory," said Harry. "Has anyone ever tried sticking a sword in Voldemort? Maybe the Ministry should put some people onto that. Just like they always do. Just like they put some people into looking for Sirius Black when he escaped. Or when they put some people on locating Voldemort's current whereabouts. Maybe like the time they _put some people_ on a case of underage magic use and controlling Hogwarts! People are dying, Minister. Muggles, Purebloods, and other Magicals alike. Voldemort and a score of Death Eaters attacked over _Surrey England_ and not a single Auror showed up, not even for the fact that I was forced to use magic on the premises, let alone the real reason they should've been there. You're not doing a damn thing in this war, you and the Ministry. And you still expect us to cooperate with you?"

"You go too far!" shouted Scrimgeour, and jabbed Harry hard in the chest with the point of his wand: It singed a hold in Harry's T-shirt like a lit cigarette, but the real surprise came in that the tip of the wand, not Harry's chest, but just the wand, began to smoke like somebody had lit it on fire.

"Oi!" Ron jumped up, raising his own wand, but Harry waved him off, not moving.

"No! Don't give him an excuse to arrest us, or misuse any of his power any more than he already has."

"Remembered you're not at school, have you?" said Scrimgeour, breathing hard into Harry's face. "Remembered that I am not Dumbledore, who forgave your insolence and insubordination? You may wear that scare like a crown, Potter, but it is not up to a seventeen-year-old boy to tell me how to do my job! It's time you learned some respect!"

"It's time you earned it," said Harry with a dead voice and a cold look in his eyes.

Scrimgeour glared back hard, but then happened to glance down and saw that it was not Harry's skin that was smoking, but his very own wand, the tip now charred and turning to ash at every contact with the youth's skin. He took a couple steps back from Harry, glancing back at the hole he had made in Harry's T-shirt. He almost seemed to regret his loss of temper, but was also confused over what he'd just seen.

After a lengthy moment, he looked Harry full in the face once more, saying, "I... regret your attitude. You seem to think that the Ministry does not desire what you—what Dumbledore—desired. We ought to be working together to defeat out common enemy."

"I happen to agree with you there," Harry admitted. "But your ways of going about this... war, leave much to be desired. I don't like your methods, Minister," he said point blank. "Remember?"

Harry raised his right fist and displayed to Scrimgeour the scars that still showed white on the back of it, spelling _I must not tell lies_. Scrimgeour's expression hardened. He turned away without another word and limped from the room.

"Minister!" he called Scrimgeour back. "I'll walk you out, but first, I have something to offer you."

"Oh?" the lion-maned man growled back.

"I'll kill Voldemort, that's not a problem. What I want from you... is the right to prosecute, judge, and execute any and all suspected or proven Death Eaters, as well as immunity from likewise prosecution by the Wizengamot. Meaning that from now until long after I'm dead, you cannot imprison, hold, or make accusations that me, or my friends here, are guilty of any crime, no matter how small or how large. In exchange, you get to still be Minister of Magic after this war is over with."

Scrimgeour just snarled and left the room, not coming back. Harry sighed, and turned to his friends. "Well, I had to try. C'mon, let's go get him before he accidentally stumbles across Remus and Tonks. I'll explain everything else later on tonight, all right?"

Hermione and Ron both nodded, grabbed their 'gifts' and followed Harry out. Shortly, after they'd escorted the Minister out of the Burrow, and he hurriedly went beyond the wards and immediately Disapparated away. After that, Harry's birthday party was much more pleasant.

_Later that night_

_The Burrow_

_Harry's Room_

Harry's party had been a success, everybody had fun, even Lupin and Tonks, who'd they had found snogging in a broom closet instead of in the room Harry had directed them to. Everybody had had a grand time and when they finally left at around 11:30, they'd all but forgotten the Minister's unannounced visit and the whole war with Voldemort in fact. The clean up had gone faster than expected, especially when Harry employed about a dozen copies to help Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour, so everyone was in bed by around midnight.

Except for, of course, himself, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Harry had changed shirts much earlier, but he was now in a loose shirt and sweat pants for sleeping in, while the girls had put on nightgowns and Ron was in shorts and T-shirt. They were there in his room to talk about the Minister's visit, as well as the items left by Dumbledore to them.

Once they were all inside, Hermione waved her wand in the direction of the door, whispering, "_Muffliato._"

"Thought you didn't approve of that spell?" said Ron.

"Times change," was all she said. "Now, show us that Deluminator." Harry tuned them out for a time, as he already had a strong suspicion on what the Deluminator really was for, but now was not the time, and he had more plans to be making.

What kept the focus of his thoughts, however, was his own gift from Dumbledore. The Snitch from his very first Quidditch game at school. He was suddenly brought out of his musings when Hermione responded to Ron's comment about Dumbledore leaving it to him.

"I've no idea," said Hermione. "When Scrmigeour made you take it, Harry, I was so sure that something was going to happen!"

"Yeah, well," said Harry, his pulse quickening as he raised the Snitch in his fingers. "I wasn't going to try too hard in front of the Minister, now was I?"

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"The Snitch I caught in my first ever Quidditch match?" he said. "Don't you remember?"

Hermione looked simply bemused. Ron, however, gasped, pointing frantically from Harry to the Snitch and back again until he found his voice. "That was the one you nearly swallowed!"

"Exactly," said Harry, and with his heart beating fast, he pressed his mouth to the Snitch.

It did not open.

He allowed himself a moment of frustrated disappointment, but then Hermione cried out, "Writing! There's writing on it, quick, look!"

Turning it around quickly, he looked and saw that she was quite right. Engraved upon the smooth golden surface, where seconds before there had been nothing, were five words written in the thin, slanting handwriting that Harry recognized as Dumbledore's; _I open at the close._

He had barely read them when the words vanished again.

"I open at the close... What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny asked for all of them.

Hermione and Ron shook their heads, looking blank.

Harry repeated the words a few times to himself, "I open at the close... at the _close_... I open at the... close..." His head was racing with the minds of four intellects racing the words back and forth, until finally it was his 'Spy' part that realized that Dumbledore had already mapped everything out, long before his death atop the Astronomy Tower, perhaps even before his duel with Voldemort in the Ministry itself. The man was meticulous if not well-intentioned. The Close, in this singular case, would be the close of the chapter, close of the book... close of the adventure.

Putting the Snitch back to his lips, he whispered so only those closest could hear, "I am about to die."

The metal shell broke open. The black stone with its jagged crack running down the center sat in the two halves of the Snitch. Nobody else knew exactly what it was, but Harry somehow already knew that this was a one-of-a-kind magical object that had no equal and no copy throughout the entire world.

"Wh-what is that, Harry?" Hermione asked.

Frowning with thought, Harry just shrugged and pulled out the Mokeskin pouch Hagrid had given him and put the cracked stone into it and sealed it tight. "Don't know. Figure it out later. Hermione, you put the book with all the others, right?"

"Um, yes, although I was tempted to bring it here, but..."

"That's fine," he said. "I'll be wanting a look at it after we're off, but for now keep it safe. Now, about tomorrow, or I guess today," he glanced at the clock. "We'll go to the wedding, participate and have fun and celebrate Bill and Fleur's nuptials, all right?"

"Then," he took a deep breath and let out a slow sigh, "Then we're off, as soon as the reception is over with, we're gone. Hermione, keep that pouch of yours with you at all times, understand. Ron, Ginny, keep your wands handy, and just to be on the safe side, Ginny, keep a change of clothes on hand, maybe even wear something under the dress. Hermione, same goes for you."

"And what are you going to be doing?" Hermione questioned.

"Well, no offense to your 'cousin', Ron, but I'm not going to be using any Polyjuice potion, and while I noticed you sneaking all of Mad-Eye's supply out from under his nose earlier, Hermione, I'll be teaching you lot a much easier way of hiding your appearance. And like I said, we'll _all_ be going to the wedding and doing our part. It's afterwards where things get tricky."

"Tricky how?" Ron asked.

Harry sighed again.

He could tell them his suspicions, but that might just make them worry for nothing. Still, it might be nice to have a sounding board...

"Tom is just one man, and while he's a bully, he cares more about learning more magic and averting death for as long as possible, than personal power or even approval from the masses. Tom doesn't give one shite about becoming Minister of Magic, nor about taking control of the Ministry. Maybe once upon a time, he did, but that was before he got wasted by a one-year-old."

"Unfortunately, Tom is just one man in control of an army, and to maintain that control he has to give them things that they want," said Harry. "For the Dark Creatures, a little bit of mayhem, a spot of violence, maybe a few dozen human souls for the Dementors, easy enough when you're after social upheaval. But for the Death Eaters themselves? For the wizards that care about blood purity, money, and power?"

"They'll want him to take over the Ministry," Ginny gasped.

"More like he'll allow them to execute plans to take over the Ministry, under the illusion that he's telling them to do so. And he might be, but he'll only be giving them enough input so that they see him at the reigns, while they'll all be doing the hard work and taking care of the details. So long as he can still control the beast, the Death Eater horse will march wherever it damn well pleases."

"Killing V-V-V... You-Know-Who won't be enough, will it?" asked Ron, after some hesitation.

"Not anymore," Harry answered.

"Just look at what happened the last time he was 'defeated'," Hermione pointed out. "Most of them just managed to go into hiding or bought their way out of Azkaban. It would just be a repeat of 15 years ago. Is that why you offered that... deal to Scrimgeour?"

Harry shrugged, "Seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, if he'd have gone for it, I could've just created a massive Copy army and tracked down every 'Marked' Death Eater and tortured them for information on everybody that was under their control, or otherwise allied with the Dark Lord before tracking down the Dork of Darkness himself and ending this once and for all. Course we don't need to be dodging the Ministry along with Death Eaters this soon, so I made it seem more like a joke than really try to convince him."

"But Harry," said Ginny, "if you're right, and the Death Eaters are planning to take over the Ministry, with _his_ support or not, we might end up having to anyway."

Harry frowned, but had to concede the point.

"I'm working on some ideas, plans for what we'll be doing once we're off, but it's all still in the preliminary stages, and nothing much than concepts. If only we had more time to figure everything out! Tom is the central mass, but he's not the bulk of the problem, and we need to focus on how to flush out every Death Eater, either all at once, or in a way where we can handle and contain them. I'd prefer killing them outright, but I'm not going to win the war just to wind up in prison for murder."

"Well, what are some of your ideas, maybe I can help?" Hermione offered.

Harry just shook his head. "Still too early for that. Once I have something plausible, then I'll explain it. Right now my ideas are along the lines of individual memories, passages I read from books, maps, locations, addresses, nothing that actually puts it to any use, just the information."

"Oh, well if you need any help, just ask, I'm here, Harry," she said.

"Thanks Hermione."

"Anything us Weasleys can do?" offered Ginny.

Harry smirked, but nodded. "Yeah, tomorrow, during the reception, and I'm probably making something out of nothing here, but Ginny, you stay next to Hermione, no matter what. Ron, you stick next to me. Don't get separated, and Ron, if I run off, join up with Hermione and Ginny."

"You're not having one of those... 'bad feelings', are ya, Harry?" asked Ron with a grimace.

"I hope not," was the only reply his friend could offer. "I hope not."

After a little bit more small talk, they finally all went to bed, all of them going back to their rooms and going straight to sleep. Harry stayed up for another two hours, meditating and trying to organize his thoughts.


	8. Parties: Wedding Day!

Title:Harry Potter: Four In One

Author:Joshua

Disclaimer:J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe. Tamora Pierce is the awesome author of the "Circle of Magic" books that 'Mage-Harry' is taken from, and of course I don't own Winding Circle nor the concepts of Academic and Ambient Magic. Any future Spy-Magic you might see is going to be exactly like the Battle Magic so far, an amalgamation of numerous sources that might not even be 'magic' on their own, but have been twisted in such a way by me. You have been warned.

Summary:A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.

Story:

Three o'clock on the following afternoon found Harry, Ron, Fred, and George standing outside the great white marquee in the garden, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests. Harry had been offered a large dose of Polyjuice potion, but waved it off before ultimately demonstrating his ability to self-transfigure, or disguise himself into any shape or form he could imagine. The plan was to introduce Harry as "Cousin Barny" and trust to the great number of Weasley relatives to camouflage him. The potion had included a hair of one of the local village boys, but Harry had chosen for his appearance from one of the few muggle celebrities that he even knew the name of, let alone the face. Thankfully, Bill and Fleur had not invited many, if any guests that were sufficiently familiar with the muggle world for them to ask why Tom Cruise was one of the ushers, or why he was wearing thick-rimmed glasses.

All four of them were clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people to the right seats. A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden-jacketed band, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance away under a tree; Harry could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot to attest to their activities.

Behind them, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles were entwined with white and gold flowers. At the end of the path, an enormous bunch of golden balloons had been fastened over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife. Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow, a few lone eagles and hawks soared lazily high in the sky, and it was a mercifully cloudless day. In short, it was the perfect day for a wedding.

Harry had complimented the large number of Weasleys and friends and hired caterers by conjuring a whole boatload of Shadow Copies, then transfigured each into a different face, some of students from school, some of people that weren't even on the planet, and others a mish-mash of people he did know. Such as his own disguise, that had his own height and build, but Ron's red hair, Ginny's brown eyes, Hermione's cheeks, the Twins' ears, Mr. Weasley's nose, Charlie's mouth, and Bill's jawline with Fleur's flawless skin. For some reason though, Luna Lovegood _still_ identified him immediately.

Nevertheless, for those that didn't want to do the more menial, boring, or uncomfortable jobs, a Copy was available to do it, leaving everyone enough free time to actually have some enjoyment, along with getting twice as much done even faster. The Twins almost begged off the entire chore list, until Harry threatened that he'd let them babysit Gabrielle if they didn't do _something_, so they still wound up greeting guests and guiding them to their seats alongside his 'Tom Cruise' Copy.

The one bit of trouble, if it could be called trouble, was when Ron's Aunt Murielle showed up. If he ever meets such a disagreeable... _person_ ever again in his entire life, it would be too soon. Although he did allow himself a brief fantasy over exactly how Voldemort and his Death Eaters would react to having to deal with the old bat. It would truly be a punishment worse than death, worse the Azkaban, and probably even worse than anything old Moldy-Shorts himself could come up with, at his most devious and sadistic.

Finally, the guests had all arrived, and it was announced that the ceremony would be starting soon.

And wouldn't you know it, that's exactly when Harry's beeper went off.

How did Harry get a beeper? How could a muggle-device like a beeper even work around all these witches and wizards? Who, or what would be calling Harry Potter of all people at a time like this?

In answer to the first, it wasn't an _actual_ beeper, but the pocket watch he'd gotten for his birthday from Mrs. Weasley. And while it was 'beeping' at him, it was the _way_ that it was beeping that got his attention. Because it did not represent somebody trying to send him a message, or anything like that. No, it was beeping because shortly after he'd received the watch, he replaced all the components inside of it, fixed the dent, and cast a multitude of charms, spells, and numerous other magical properties into it. One of which, was the ability to detect any form of dark magic, and to sound an alarm upon detecting _specific_ types of dark magic.

Such as a Dark Mark.

"Not today, you buggers," he muttered after looking down at his watch.

"Harry?" Ron asked, having stood next to his friend even as the watch went off.

"I'll explain later," said Harry as he moved towards the edge of the festivities, "Stay close to Hermione and Ginny. Unfortunately... I just got that bad feeling. Don't panic anyone, let Bill and Fleur have their day. They deserve it, and I'm going to make sure that it stays theirs."

"What are you going to do?" Ron hissed urgently.

"There's somebody with a Dark Mark looming around here," explained Harry. "I'm going to find them, make them disappear in the crowd, interrogate them, and then probably kill them unless they beg to be taken to Azkaban first. _Then_ I'll kill them. Nobody messes with my family, even if it's extended family. Stay with Hermione and Ginny. One of my Copies will also be hanging around. Pretend he's me. Go!"

After Ron left, reluctantly, Harry opened his Aura Sight, and within moments had tracked down the lone Death Eater. A spy, no doubt. Came in amongst the guests. Double checking the list real quick, he realized that the Weasleys aren't ones to idly invite people they aren't sure about. Looking back at the marked-guest, he recognized the trace of Polyjuice potion wearing off. After all the guests were already present, it would be almost inhuman to be able to keep track of every face and make sure it didn't suddenly change into an unknown. Plus, the Weasleys are known for having a big family, so an extra face at a wedding is nothing to be suspicious about, unfortunately.

In short order, Harry had cornered the Death Eater and with the help of a few catering copies, he and the Death Eater vanished over the hills into a secluded little valley that was really a ditch, where nobody would see them, and any screams that came from there wouldn't be heard at all.

"Who are you? What do you want? What are you doing here?" Harry interrogated the adult wizard, who he pressed down into the mud, half-standing on the man's chest. "Those are the questions I want answered. Anything that is _not_ an answer to either one of those questions will result in a lot of discomfort for you. We'll eventually work our way up to Cruciatus, but for now we'll start with actual physical torture. Do we understand each other now? Good."

Five minutes later, there was a new bone buried for some dog to find later in life. Say what you will about Crouch Jr., he was still the best and most effective teacher Harry'd had since Remus taught in his Third Year. Plus, the crazy lunatic had some interesting ideas on how to get rid of evidence.

He came back just in time for the ceremony to start, and quickly used a simple 'Replacement' spell to switch out with his Copy next to his friends sitting near the front. The ceremony was standard, yet still very beautiful. Bill was a damn lucky man, and even with his new scars, it merely made him appear more manly and roguish. Fleur, of course, was a goddess and very beautiful in her wedding dress. As soon as the ceremony completed with the flare of binding magic, which was just as beautiful and amazing as everything else so far, the marquee exploded with a flourish into the outdoor reception setting and everybody mingled and dove for the food. Well, Ron did at least, after they'd settled themselves at a table, as far away form Murielle as possible.

Soon, the music started up, and a few dancers went out onto the floor in couples. Luna, who was at their table, simply said, "I like this song," before getting up to spin alone on the dance floor, looking quite content to while away the time.

Ron, who would've said something, wisely kept his mouth shut, and just grinned over at the blond Ravenclaw. Ginny, who was sitting between Ron and Harry at their table, suddenly spoke up, "I just realized... Luna's still going back to Hogwarts. And Neville and the others too. While we're all going off on some grand adventure."

Harry remained quiet for a moment, continuing to watch the bright yellow form of Luna Lovegood dancing alone. "I'd hardly call going into hiding a grand adventure, Gin," he said to her. "If Viktor shows up, try to keep Ron from acting _too_ much like a prat, all right?" Then he stood up and easily and quickly slipped into step alongside Luna so that one second she was twirling about like a ballerina, the next they were dancing together with bright smiles on their faces.

"Hello Harry," Luna grinned at him.

"Hello Luna," he grinned right back.

"Enjoying the party?" he asked as he twirled her around before pulling her back to the beat of the music.

"Immensely," she replied. "And you?"

"Had a bit of trouble earlier, but I handled it rather nicely. And permanently."

"Do you hear barking?"

His grin widened. "Probably just a wild Toynbee roaming the countryside. I'm sure they're trying to find a rather tasty bone that's buried somewhere in these hills. You know those Toynbee."

"Yes, I'm sure that's all it is," Luna's own grin deepened.

Before too long, they came to the edge of the dance floor and stopped when they felt somebody tapping their shoulders. Ginny was standing there with a mildly annoyed look on her face. "Mind if I cut in?" she asked pointedly.

Luna and Harry shared a look, then shrugged, and Harry replied, "Not at all, Ginny. Enjoy yourselves ladies, I'm on prat-patrol." Then he left, leaving a confused Ginny, who was quickly swept up into dancing with Luna without any warning. It caused some stares, and Ginny was still wondering exactly what had happened, but Luna was her friend, and they were having fun, so pretty soon it didn't matter.

Ron and Hermione, thankfully, were also on the dance floor and for once Ron was controlling his more pratful tendencies, such as his raging jealous streak. Although Viktor Krum stalking around trying to chat up the more attractive, and less obsessive females of the wedding party didn't help in this, it was a good test for his hot-tempered friend.

The reception and party was going just fine, with everybody having a good time, getting to know one another, catch up with old friends, and even meeting new people and starting new relationships. As with many weddings, you had your usual cliques. Old people remarking on the newlyweds, parents of both wishing their children luck in the future, siblings ribbing their now-married brother or sister, bachelors looking to snog one of the bridesmaids, women looking to find their own future husbands, and kids just trying to play around while the grown-ups did "grown-up" things.

Just as the sun was setting, Harry, who'd been speaking with an old associate of Professor Dumbledore's, suddenly stopped and turned his head to the horizon. "Uh... Harry? Are you all right?" Elphias Doge asked when he noticed the younger man's distraction.

"Excuse me, Elphias, there's something I need to check on," Harry spoke urgently, already getting up from his chair and walking to the edge of the wards. As he approached, his pocket watch beeped at him. But in a different tone and form than when it had detected the Dark Mark earlier. Still, he knew what it meant, and it was merely further evidence towards what he was sensing at that moment.

Voldemort's forces were on the move.

Moving quickly through the crowds, he found his friends and spoke quickly and quietly with them. Ginny was still next to Luna, who had returned to her father's side, their eye-smattering sunflower yellow robes much more pleasant to bear in the twilight than it had been earlier in the afternoon.

"Ron, Hermione, Ginny... Remember that bad feeling I told you I'd been hoping I wouldn't get?"

"Another one?" Ron whined, uncomfortable with his best friend making comments about killing Death Eaters, but overall he didn't really mind _that_ much. They were Death Eaters after all.

"No... but remember what we were talking about last night?" he reminded them. Predictably, all three of them went very pale, very quickly, which drew the attention of the Lovegoods. Thankfully, they hadn't been close enough to truly listen in before now.

"Is everything all right here?" Xenophilius Lovegood asked them, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Actually, Mr. Lovegood," Harry spoke directly to the man. "You and your daughter need to leave. Right now. Go home, lock the doors, bank your fire, and if you have them, raise your wards. The Dark Lord had started his campaign against the Ministry. Preparations need to be made, and I suggest you go take care of them. Immediately."

The Lovegoods both looked at him as most people looked at _them_ a good percentage of the time, until they both began to realize he was quite serious about his warning, and his three friends reactions merely confirmed their own trust in him. Finally, Xenophilius nodded and quickly led Luna off the property without another word, except for a small nod of understanding from the man, and a look of longing worry from Luna.

_'Don't worry,'_ Harry communicated with his mental magic, _'We'll be OK. Have a good year at Hogwarts. I'll do my best to make sure it's not too unpleasant. We'll always be your friends, Luna.'_

With that final message, he turned to his friends, whispering urgently, "Get everyone into the house. Remus, Tonks, Hagrid, Bill, Fleur and her entire family, and the entire Weasley clan that can't be trusted to look after themselves. In fact... Ginny, have Fred and George escort Murielle home themselves, and tell them to do _whatever it takes_, just get her home safely. Even if they have to use knock-out gas. Go. Quickly!"

Harry watched with mounting worry as his friends raced to complete his instructions. They weren't ready for this. _He_ wasn't ready for this! His demonstration in facing off against Voldemort was supposed to delay this! He needed more time!

Alas, it seems that time is the one thing he was in short supply of. He needed to...

Oh no.

At that moment, something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then the Patronus's mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"_The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming. You Know Who is on the move._"

Shit.

The Patronus had vanished, dissolving into silvery mist, quiet seeming to spread from the spot as everybody slowly turned to where it had arrived at and realized what it meant. The damn was about to burst, it was only a few seconds away from that as it is. Harry quickly moved through the crowd, making his way to the dance floor where the lynx had stood only moments before.

Then somebody screamed.

"**QUIET!!**" Harry had absently cast the _Sonorous_ spell on himself just before shouting, which seemed to have negated the panic the scream had almost started. "**YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME!!**"

Consciously undoing the spell, he still shouted, but this time without the echoing boom. "I am Harry Potter! I know that you all want to panic and run right now, but that is the last thing we need! As long as I am here, your protection at this event is guaranteed. Nevertheless! Please, everyone, gather all of those in your party, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE **EVERYONE**! And then quickly make your way to beyond the wards and go immediately home. If you used Portkey, my advice is that those of you that can, not are allowed, but _can_, use side-along Apparition and go straight home! Once you have everyone in your party, you may leave!"

Around him, the crowd was still pushing and much louder, but it wasn't the panicked stampede it could have become, instead it was everybody trying to leave the party all at once, and as quickly as possible. Within five minutes, the place was practically deserted, only family members left, and a returning Fred and George, who were grinning far too much for them to have simply escorted their difficult Aunt home for the evening.

Harry felt the assault the minute before the lynx Patronus had arrived, and it was for the simple matter that the wards were _his_ that he could feel it at all. It was very subtle, and stunk of Ministry magic. It was also because the wards were his that when the Order's, the Ministry's, and even a few of the older Family Protections surrounding the Burrow had broken and dropped, that those he'd put in himself since his arrival a week ago, expanded and filled in the space, so to speak. Unfortunately, that expansion cost, and there were gaps.

The Anti-Apparition, Anti-Portkey, and blocks on Floo access were still up and in full coverage and effect. But those that he'd put there that would keep an army out and from causing any harm to those inside the ward were severely compromised. Walking around to the front yard, Harry stopped the last guests from crossing the ward-barrier, telling them to go out through the back orchard instead. When they saw what he did, they didn't argue, instead running full out for the back orchard.

"Hello Tommy-boy," Harry called out across the darkness, standing at the edge of the ward, only a few meters from Voldemort, who stood at the head of a small army of Death Eaters and wizards and witches wearing Auror robes and a few others bearing Official Ministry symbols here and there.

"Hello Potter," the Dark Lord hissed back.

"Come to crash the party?" Harry teased back.

"Well, I simply couldn't help myself, when I heard you were in attendance. After all, I could not let your challenge to me go unanswered," the snake-faced wizard sarcastically remarked.

"And here I was thinking you were smarter than that," Harry chuckled. "Now that you _are_ the Ministry, Tommy-boy, I have no choice. Instead of just "going abroad" for a year, or going into hiding, now you're forcing my hand. I _have_ to become a rebel against the State. I can't even risk coming out in daylight without a disguise, and any time that I do show my face in public, it will have to be in an aggressive capacity. My friends were rather reluctant about going into hiding at all, but seeing as we're now wanted by the government, we really won't have any choice. If you'd left things the way there were, chances were that at least one of your Death Eaters might have caught me unaware. Now I have to disappear."

"Oh, but you won't do that, will you Potter? You're too much the Hero to just run and hide and care only for yourself," Voldemort taunted his foe. "You won't be able to just stand by and let countless lives be ruled by me and my Death Eaters, will you?"

"Any reason you're here, Tom?"

"_I AM LORD VOLDEMORT!_" the Dark Lord screamed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Moldy-wart," Harry yawned. "I noticed that, despite _apparently_ coming here in an officiating Ministry capacity, the wards are still up, otherwise you would've come in already. Now, be honest, what are you here for?"

"As you say," Voldemort composed himself quickly, going back to his smiling and taunting, "you have been declared an Enemy of the State. When we received word that you were here at this... gathering, I made it a point to take charge of your capture, personally."

"All cause I whipped your butt a week ago? By the way, nice scar."

"Your wards have been weakened, _boy_. Do not think yourself invincible!" the Dark Lord warned.

Harry frowned, but finally he just turned around and walked away from the wards, and the gathered army. "While we've been talking, Tommy-boy, I've been silently restructuring and rebuilding the wards. Unfortunately... you're right. I can't stop all of your forces. But I can stop you. In the time that we've had our pleasant little conversation here, in addition to the fractured 'non-violence' protection, I've managed to complete two additional matrices. One removes the presence of any and all traces of the Imperius Curse upon those that pass through it. And need I remind you, _Tommy-boy_, I've found a way of stopping the Avada Kedavra, what makes you think I don't have similar ways of stopping the other Unforgivables?"

"The second barrier that is now in place is an either or type of protection. You can send in your minions that aren't under the Imperius, and I'll fight all of them... or you come in and we have ourselves a little rematch. Again, the choice is yours."

By this point, Harry had made it back to the marquee, and everybody else was inside the Burrow, or gone and back to their homes. He stood in the middle of the dance floor, clearly visible to all, and waited.

"You're bluffing!" Voldemort shouted over the distance.

"Try me!" Harry shouted back.

Of course he was bluffing. It had been barely two days since his last merger, and while his magic was four times as powerful and four times as potent, he _still_ had not completed his Battle Magic pathways, so his spell craft was not yet up to handling the small army Voldemort had gathered to face him. He could still use magic, and he could force the spells, but it would cost him a lot of concentration, as what the pathways did was allow him to use Battle Magic spells easily and fluidly, like reflexive actions more than anything else. Without those pathways built up in his body, he'd basically be reacting the same way that a beginning student would.

And while both types of wards that he'd described did exist, because his magical reaction time was off, just the slightest bit, he had only enough time to put one of them in place, and he wasn't betting on having the time to put the other down in time.

Still... at least Voldemort couldn't use their link anymore, let alone Leglimency.

Thankfully, snake-head only decided to call half of Harry's bluff, as he ordered his Death Eaters, "Keep the Aurors back. He's bluffing, but a few of them might be faking anyway. Follow me." He then calmly stepped over the ward and through the barrier it presented. He passed through without any difficulty at all, and, smirking, the Death Eaters likewise had no problems in closing in on the Boy Who Lived.

"You were saying, Potter?" Voldemort taunted.

In response, Harry just reached up to behind his ear and pulled out a green toothpick, that instantly expanded into his 7-foot-length Compliant Rod, twirled it around once to get it into the ready-position, and glared at his opponents. For further motivation, he started channeling his magic through the staff and extended his magical senses, so as to detect anybody trying to get past him and into the Burrow.

"Let's do this," he growled.

"So eager to die, Potter?" it was Malfoy's voice speaking from behind the Death Eater mask.

"Found Crabbe Sr. yet, have you Malfoy?" Harry teased right back, not changing his stance one bit.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" ten wizards that were on the front lines shouted, sickly green lights headed right for Harry at the center spot. He made his first move.

Twirling so fast, other people could only see a blur of motion, Harry raised a solid wall of elemental magic, using his battle staff to lay down the boundaries, and then he pumped the _Astral Barrier_ spell matrix into it to double the chances. Ten spells hit... ten spells broke like water on the shore against the shield Harry had constructed in a moments time, and the shield held without any sign of wear. Nobody was stupid enough to think that it would continue to do so, but there was nothing stopping him from taking it down and creating a fresh new one at the moment.

"That is getting _really_ old guys," Harry commented in a bored tone of voice.

Suddenly, he snapped his staff out and a trio of fireballs exploded out of the end, flying towards one of the masked figures that was on the edge of the front, and was trying to sneak around to attack Potter in the back. All three hit, one to the head, one to the chest, and one to the hips, exploding and then covering the Death Eater with flames. He tried rolling around in the dirt to smother the fire, but that just seemed to make it spread faster. Finally a few of his fellow Death Eaters cast _Aguamentia_ on him to help douse the flames, only the moment the magically-created water touched him, they hissed angrily before flaring up ten times brighter than before, consuming the Death Eater in moments as he screamed out in wretched pain, only for it to be suddenly cut off and for the body to stop moving and only then did the flames die out... when there was nothing but ash left.

"Fiendfyre," Harry answered to the unasked question and looks Voldemort and the remaining Death Eaters were giving him. "Not really worth casting a fireball spell if it's just going to be put back out with an even simpler spell, is it?"

"Tell me, Potter," Voldemort asked this a calculating look, "when did you get so ruthless? I like it. If you might be willing to consider joining me, despite just being a mere half-blood. With your... impressive skills, there is not much that could possibly stand in our way."

Harry frowned for a moment, before pointing his staff at Voldemort and said, "Kettle, meet Pot," he pointed the staff back at himself before dropping back into his ready-stance. Voldemort snarled, understanding the simplified phrase, and then gave the order, "Kill him." Then he stepped back to watch the fireworks.

Harry adjusted his stance into a more defensive one, keeping both hands on the dark green metal of his Compliant Rod, and kept his senses wide-open. The first attack, as always, came from the front, but mere seconds after it, came two others, angling in from 30 and 120 degrees off center. Extending his staff just enough, he manipulated the elements in the spell and grasped the magic of it's core and then spun around, the spell-bolt not _quite_ touching the gold-tipped end of the staff, until he brought it in contact with the spell coming in on his right, and then the two collided and seemed to _fuse_ somehow as he kept up the spinning and brought the newly fused spell all the way around to collide with the spell coming in on his left, where the same fusion happened, and he threw the newly fused spell right at Voldemort, who barely reacted in time to raise his own protections. The explosion still knocked him back and decimated the ranks of anyone in the vicinity of the Dark Lord. All that completed in one, smooth, unending motion that was completed in less time than it took for the Death Eaters to _cast_ all three curses at him.

This time, everybody on the front lines, not in unison, but still all together cast the worst curse they knew. A lot were the Death Curse, but there were a few other more impressive and imaginative curses thrown in too. Harry didn't trust that he could manipulate the Death curse _yet_, and to be quite honest there were just plain too many for him to try without more time to hone his reflexes. So, he made a real quick copy, kept the elemental magic wall up, and then hypersped it out of there. When the shield finally crashed, the first spell that hit the copy, Avada Kedavra or not, caused an explosion that tore down the entire marquee and put the entire grounds around the Burrow in shadowy darkness, the only light coming from the moon and stars in the sky and the Burrow itself in the background.

A few Death Eaters started to cheer, but a voice in that darkness suddenly silenced them in the aftermath of the explosion. "**_You missed me..._**"

And then out of the smoke, Harry Potter was seen, the ethereal flames of his Battle Magic shield spell highlighting his body and presence. A few foolish and hot-headed Death Eaters raced forward, intent on killing their enemy, whether through curses, or just through strangling the life out of him with their bare hands. After they passed a certain point, Harry just raised the Compliant Rod above his head and screamed the spell, "_Lightning Bolt, Come Forth_!"

Instantly, the sky over the Burrow, which had been clear to see the stars, was covered in a single storm cloud, and while a spark left the gold capped tip of the staff, multiple lightning bolts crashed down onto each of the advancing Death Eaters, leaving nothing but cooked meat behind. The sound alone from that many close-range bolts was enough to stagger a lesser man, possibly even enough to make his ears bleed and to send him to the hospital after making him permanently deaf. Harry just stood there, glaring at the army before him.

"Interesting," Voldemort commented. "Send in the werewolves," he ordered, and instantly another group of robed and masked Death Eaters surged forward. Nevertheless, there was no doubt, these were the werewolves in service to the Dark Lord.

Harry frowned as he detected this through his own senses, and adjusted his tactics accordingly. Meaning he let them get a single step closer before felling them with a single spell from the tip of his staff, this one a bit of a fusion of all his magical training, from Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy. He took the 'silver sparkle' spell that any Second Year at Hogwarts knows, boosted it with the training and forms of Battle Magic, used his abilities as a Mage to change the elements of the spells so that instead of just being silver-colored, it was _real silver_ that was being shot out, and it was his training as a Magic Spy that he was able to create the new spell in the first place.

Silently casting the spell, Harry waved his staff in a warding-arc that covered everything in front of him, and from that arc, a _wave_ of silver energy swept out and covered and knocked back the advancing werewolves. Those that were closer, died instantly. A few, maybe one or two, in the back just fell back and were severely poisoned, and without treatment, perhaps even with it, they would be dead within days.

And still, Harry hadn't even moved from his spot between the Death Eaters and the Burrow.

"Very interesting," Voldemort commented. Then he called out, "Tell me, Potter! Why the change in form? A week ago, you were hunting down my Death Eaters and seeking to cause as much damage to our ranks as possible. Now you stay in one place, do not move, and do not attack except to defend yourself. Why is that, I wonder? Is it possible your power comes at a greater cost than even you realize?"

Harry frowned, but decided to humor the old man for once, and answered back, "Different strategy, different tactics." Seeing that none of them, not even old snake face knew what he meant, he elaborated. "A week ago, my only goal was sending a message. I'm more powerful than you, so _DON'T **FUCK** WITH **ME**_!!"

In a calmer tone, he continued, "Right now, my objective is to ensure the safety of everyone in the home behind me, no matter what. To clarify that; if you attack the Burrow, or if you try to sneak past me, whether to get to the Burrow or to do a sneak-attack on me... you _die_ instantly! If you just attack me and completely ignore the Burrow... you get a few free shots before I counter attack and kill you then. You don't advance, I keep up a shield and we do this long-range. You advance, everybody that crosses my line, dies. That simple. Everybody that doesn't... I won't attack you until you become an annoyance."

"Rather confident, aren't we, Potter?" Malfoy taunted, a bit of laughter going up amidst the Death Eaters.

Harry tilted his head as he looked over the masked figure that was Lucius Malfoy.

"I could ask the same of you, Malfoy," he replied. "But then, we have different forms of confidence. I know exactly what I can do, and I know, pretty much, what all of you can do, and thus I have a spell prepared for most contingencies and any attacks you'll make. You... are only confident because there are more of you than there is of me. Or so you think."

Snarling beneath his mask, Malfoy rose to the bait and shouted back, "You are outnumbered, quite literally, at a hundred to one, Potter! What hope, what chance do you even have of prevailing against the might of the Dark Lord?!"

Arching an eyebrow at the challenge, Harry just smirked and stuck his staff into the ground, letting it stand on its own for a few moments. Then he started to form seals with his hands, and focusing his magic.

"That's right, I never got to showcase this type of spell in our last encounter, did I?" Harry beamed as the spell completed, and he called out in a forbidding voice, "**_Darkness Copy Revolution!_**"

Back in the Burrow, everybody that was watching from the windows shared a look as most of them had seen Harry's demonstration with the Shadow Copy Kaleidescope spell, but this sounded like a completely different spell.

A soft moan rose up from the environment around the Burrow, the Death Eaters looking around, trying to see the effect of whatever spell Potter had case, but they could see nothing but the darkness and the shadows in the low lighting. And then the darkness and shadows moved.

Nobody was sure who saw it first, but it didn't matter as pretty soon it was happening all over the place. Wherever there was a shadow, a place of pure darkness in the deepening night, a figure was slowly emerging. Some came from the ground, some came from the sides of the home, some came from beneath tables and others from the trunks and roots of trees and bushes. But they all came in the same way, crawling from the darkness like the living undead, until there were enough dark bodies standing there to rival the combined force of Death Eater and Auror that had been arrayed against Harry Potter.

For a few breaths, the forms of pure darkness just stood there, and then a heartbeat later, they changed into the appearance of Harry Potter. They didn't look _exactly_ like Harry though. The Shadow Copies, they were made and designed to be picture perfect copies of Harry in every way, right down to the spells he could cast. The Dark Copies, however...

Their skin tone was much darker for one, and not enough to confuse them with a different race, but more like if Harry spent all his time during the day in the sun, it is what his skin would _eventually_ look like. Their clothing and eyes were also much darker, and both were solid black, like obsidian. Also, the Dark Copies could not perform magic. Well... they could, but Harry would rather he not have to resort to that, as the only magic they could perform would be like a combination of Elvin vampiric and Dementor abilities. A Dark Copy's only power is to drain the magic of their victim and enemy, thereby transferring that magic back to the original once they're dispelled.

"Still feeling confident?" Harry asked, taunting.

"What is this?" Voldemort hissed, outraged.

"A Copy spell. Every single one of them is a solid magical construct, capable of hurting you just as easily as I am, and furthermore, they don't have souls, so Avada Kedavra will only piss them off, not even doing physical damage as they're based off a human form, namely mine. Furthermore, Copy spells can be associated with various elements. Until now, I've largely been using Shadow Copies, which require my shadow to be present. Since it's not daylight and I, technically, don't have a shadow right now, I switched elements... to Darkness, which is not good for you lot at all." Harry explained.

"_Stupefy_," Voldemort cast a red streamer at the nearest Copy. The moment the spell hit, the Copy took a step back in surprise, then looked down at where it had hit, and took a deep breath, as though refreshed or invigorated by it, and then looked up and grinned darkly at the caster.

"Oh, did I forget to mention," Harry added casually, "They _eat_ magic."

"This isn't over yet Potter!" Voldemort screamed amidst the suddenly retreating Death Eaters. Still, he did walk back to the edge of the ward himself, and disappeared with a silent pop the moment his foot crossed the threshold of the Anti-Apparition ward.

Harry breathed a heavy sigh of relief, but rather than dismissing them, he sent all of his Dark Copies out to guard the surrounding area and make sure there weren't any nasty surprises left behind. He also vanished all the bodies that _had_ been left behind.

After taking a few more measures to ensure the Burrow's safety, even after they left, he took a deep breath, marshaled his courage, and went inside to face the music. Thankfully, the first thing that happened upon his arrival, where everyone was waiting and had been anxiously watching the confrontation, was that everybody wanted to hug him and tell him how glad they were he was still alive. _Then_ the yelling and screaming started.

For the most part, it was all exactly what you'd expect. Mrs. Weasley screaming about how worried she'd been, fussing over how he could've been hurt and all that. Hermione doing the same, only exclaiming how she was still glad he was OK and warning him that if he ever worried her like that again, she'd kill him herself. Moody, Remus, Tonks, and a few other Order Members who had stayed behind gave their own reactions, but soon Moody grew restless and all the of the Order of the Phoenix that had been at the wedding, quickly left, either through Floo, or Apparating. Mr. Weasley went with them, but Bill was, quite firmly, told to remain with his wife, and all the other Weasley children told, in a variety of ways, to stay home and to keep their mother from worrying, and to likewise keep her controlled, if not calm.

After the Order of the Phoenix had left, and it was just the children, Harry and Hermione and Mrs. Weasley, Harry dropped the other shoe.

"It's time," was all he said in the quiet of the sitting room, which had been kept the same through all the remodeling, only with a bit more space and some extra furniture thrown in.

"I'm sorry dear, time for what?" Mrs. Weasley naïvely asked.

Harry just gave a meaningful look at his friends, then nodded at them as they got up to leave. He turned back to address the others, and Ron's mother specifically. "It's time for us to leave."

A heavy pause, like the weight of silence before a thunderclap.

"**_WHAT_**?!"

"Sit down, Mrs. Weasley," Harry spoke in a soft, calm voice. She sat down, but still furious.

"You knew this was coming, and we could've slipped away in the confusion of earlier, but I knew _he_ would be coming directly here, and I couldn't let your family suffer just for putting me up for a week." Harry sighed and sat down so he was facing everyone still in the room. "The Death Eaters _are_ the Ministry now. We can't afford to hide in places that are obvious anymore. We need to go underground. And yes, _we_. Ron and Hermione's names are synonymous with my own, and this last year at Hogwarts, Ginny and I were openly dating each other. If I disappear on my own and leave them behind, they'll be targeted and will disappear behind Ministry bureaucracy and into a Death Eater's dungeon somewhere. I'm not going to let that happen."

"I'm going to stop this. I'm going to stop _him_. But before I can do that, I need to free the Ministry, and I can't do that legitimately anymore. The coming months are going to be hard on everybody," he gave a meaningful look at the newlyweds. "Most likely, Gringotts, being under Goblin control, won't be too adversely affected. The Ministry still needs its gold, and the goblins all control that, so they won't risk _too_ much in angering them. Still... it's not guaranteed protection."

"Mr. Weasley, Fred and George have come up with a way of clearing Ron for the year, and I've left their... plan intact. Ministry Officials, Truant Officers for lack of a better term, will be showing up before too long. Before they do, I'll have a plan in place for Ginny as well, so she won't be missed, and hopefully even explain away her absence in some other capacity."

"Fred, George... I think it's time you two took your trip abroad, like all wizards are supposed to do after they leave Hogwarts. Where you go, or what you do, I don't have any control over, but being in a place where you can be found would not be a good idea for you two right now," Harry told the twins in no-nonsense terms.

"But Harry..." Mrs. Weasley tried again.

"Mrs. Weasley... Molly," Harry's voice grew thick with emotion. "The only thing you can do for us is help us to remain hidden. We're in more danger if we stay, and as fearful as you can be riled up... I think even you would quail at facing an army of Death Eaters and 'Aurors' that were dead set on capturing and torturing your children, no matter what you had to say or did. We'll contact you, if we can, but don't expect anything."

At that moment, Ginny and Hermione both came back in, dressed in normal muggle clothing, jeans and sweatshirts. Ron just pulled off his dress robes to reveal a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans, before accepting a jacket from Hermione. Harry stood, gave them all one last look, before turning in a tight circle, his clothing changing around him as he did so into a red blouse, navy blue blazer, tight black jeans and black sneakers.

"Well... Bye," was all he said before all four disappeared in a near-blinding flash of emerald green light.


	9. Grim Old Place

Title:Harry Potter: Four In One

Author:Joshua

Disclaimer:J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe. Also, for this one chapter here, there are a LOT of direct quotes from the book, specifically the chapter "Kreacher's Tale" just so you know. Tamora Pierce is the awesome author of the "Circle of Magic" books that 'Mage-Harry' is taken from, and of course I don't own Winding Circle nor the concepts of Academic and Ambient Magic. Any future Spy-Magic you might see is going to be exactly like the Battle Magic so far, an amalgamation of numerous sources that might not even be 'magic' on their own, but have been twisted in such a way by me. You have been warned.

Summary:A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.

Story:

"What the _bloody hell _was _THAT?!_" Hermione screeched once they had reappeared at their destination, the foyer of 12 Grimmauld Place. Which of course snapped open those tattered curtains at the end of the hall and _just _as the old painting was taking a metaphorical breath to start it's usual diatribe, Harry was suddenly right in front of it, and _punched_ a hole through it and the wall behind it, _just_ missing Mrs. Black's feet.

"Shut. Up." Harry growled at the painting, who was deathly pale, and did not make a sound as Harry closed the curtains back over it.

"That, Hermione," Harry spoke with sudden exhaustion and annoyance at the painting, "was true teleportation. Not Apparition, not a Portkey, nothing from the Wizarding world, and therefore nothing that the wards put in place by Wizards can account for. Take a look around, get comfortable," he told them grandly, "Recognize the place? I need some place private to..."

He was momentarily interrupted by a "ghost" of Albus Dumbledore bearing down on them, screaming in Moody's voice, "SNAPE! SEVERUS SNAPE!"

"Good God, Mad-Eye, is that the best you could come up with?" Harry snarled in disgust. With a snap of his fingers, the ghost froze and then sort of flickered, before disappearing entirely and the sound effects from the ceiling faded with a crackling pop.

"Harry, I think it's time we sat down and had a long talk," Hermione snapped at him.

"I agree, which is why I brought us here to do just that," he said. "First things first, lets everybody go grab a room. The Order, for very well known reasons, are no longer using this place, so there should be plenty of space for all of us. And since it really is only the four of us, we don't have to bunk up like the last time."

"But..." Hermione tried to protest.

"Settle in first, talk later, all right?" She finally acquiesced and lead the way upstairs, handing the others their trunks and other things before leaving.

"And while you're doing that," Harry said to himself after they'd left, "I'm going to see about restructuring Dumbledore's little hiding spell here..."

Fifteen minutes later, they all settled down in the kitchen. After the others had gotten settled in, and Harry had gone all over the old home and methodically removed the current Fidelius charm and replacing it with an equivalent, but significantly altered spell the produced the same effect. Catch was, instead of having a 'Secret-Keeper' that could then tell others, this spell took out the human-factor and was based solely on recognizing a set and specific criteria, namely the magic core of those that Harry 'authorized' to know of 12 Grimmauld Place. It was one of the spells he'd had to master shortly after leaving Winding Circle to gain specialized training in _Intelligence/Counter-Intelligence Sorcery_. Also called Spy Magic for short.

"All right Harry, it's time for some answers," Hermione demanded.

"She's right mate," Ron added. "We've let it go for now, and we're grateful that you told us as much as you have, especially about that whole being split into four thing. But you've been going around like you've got some master plan here, and it's time to let us in on it."

"Unfortunately," Harry said after a healthy pause, "what happened tonight pretty much destroyed whatever plans I had been making. If we go after the Horcruxes too soon, _Tommy-boy_ is going to figure out that we've got his number, and he'll start guarding the ones that we can't get to easily enough, or he'll do the stupid thing and start making more and hiding them in places we'll never get to."

"Furthermore, the whole point of me fighting and wiping out all those Death Eaters the day you came to retrieve me from Privet Drive, was to discourage them from trying anything like this. Maybe I should have joined up with the Ministry, at least publicly. It might have _actually_ kept this from happening. Still, I thought that seeing a almost-17-year-old doing things that were impossible and taking it to their boss like that... it would have woken them up and had them do the smart thing and hold back from doing something stupid. Like taking over the Ministry in a coupe."

"Now... things are too volatile, to unstable for us to do anything. We have to stay here for a few days, maybe even a few weeks. Let things settle down a bit before trying something," he told them.

"WHAT!?" Ron screamed.

"No way!" Ginny was just as incensed.

"We still need to complete Dumbledore's mission, Harry!" Hermione added her two cents. "We have to find and retrieve the Horcruxes and destroy them!"

"The cup is in the Lestrange Vault at Gringotts, the Diadem of Ravenclaw is in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts, Mundungus Fletcher _pawned_ the locket away, and Nagini does not leave her master's side for even a moment! We can't just go out the door and pick them up from a couple of vendors here! I know where they are, I just need _time_ to figure out _how_ to get them, all right Hermione?"

She flinched from his tone, but nodded her understanding all the same. Harry sighed, letting the silence fill the room. "Something that I didn't remember until I was going over the house myself. RAB, the initials left in the fake Horcrux. _Regulus Arcturus Black_, Sirius's Death Eater brother that was killed by the Dark Lord himself. Saw his room during my wanderings." He added at their looks of confusion.

"One thing that I never figured out though," he said, "was how he got it in the first place. I mean even Dumbledore needed one other person... with... him..." Harry trailed off, his mind working at four thousand times its normal speed as he came to a startling revelation. Regulus had not been alone in getting the Locket Horcrux.

"Kreacher!" Harry called out suddenly, startling his friends.

There was a loud crack and the house elf that Harry had so reluctantly inherited from Sirius appeared out of nowhere in front of the cold and empty fireplace: tiny, half human-sized, his pale skin hanging off him in folds, white hair sprouting copiously from his batlike ears. He was still wearing the filthy rag in which they had first met him, and the contemptuous look he bent upon Harry showed that his attitude to his change of ownership had altered no more than his outfit.

"Master," croaked Kreacher in his bullfrog's voice, and he bowed low; muttering to his knees, "back in my Mistress's old house with the blood-traitor Weasley and the Mudblood –"

"I forbid you to call anyone 'blood traitor' or 'Mudblood,'" growled Harry. He would have found Kreacher, with his snout-like nose and bloodshot eyes, a distinctively pitiful creature if not for the fact that the elf had betrayed Sirius to Voldemort.

"I've got a question for you," said Harry, his heart beating rather fast as he looked down at the elf, "and I order you to answer it truthfully. Understand?"

"Yes, Master," said Kreacher, bowing low again. Harry saw his lips moving soundlessly, undoubtedly framing the insults he was now forbidden to utter.

"Two years ago," said Harry, his heart now hammering against his ribs, "there was a big gold locket in the drawing room upstairs. We threw it out. Did you steal it back?"

There was a moment's silence, during which Kreacher straightened up to look Harry full in the face. Then he said, "Yes."

"Where is it now?" asked Harry patiently as Ron and Hermione looked gleeful. Ginny looked confused.

Kreacher closed his eyes as though he could not bear to see their reactions to his next word. "Gone."

"Gone?" echoed Harry, "What do you mean, it's gone?"

The elf shivered. He swayed.

"Kreacher," said Harry warningly.

"Mundungus Fletcher," croaked the elf, his eyes still tight shut. "Mundungus Fletcher stole it all; Miss Bella's and Miss Cissy's pictures, my Mistress's gloves, the Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblets with the family crest, and... and..."

Kreacher was gulping for air: His hollow chest was rising and falling rapidly, then his eyes flew open and he uttered a bloodcurdling scream. "...And the locket, Master Regulus's locket. Kreacher did wrong, Kreacher failed in his orders!"

Harry reacted instinctively. As Kreacher lunged for the poker standing in the grate, he launched himself upon the elf, flattening him. Hermione's scream mingled with Kreacher's but Harry bellowed louder than both of them. "Kreacher, I order you to stay still!"

He felt the elf freeze and released him. Kreacher lay flat on the cold stone floor, tears gushing from his sagging eyes. "Harry, let him up!" Hermione whispered.

"So he can beat himself up with the poker?" snorted Harry, kneeling beside the elf. "I don't think so. Right. Kreacher, I want the truth: How do you know Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket?"

"Kreacher saw him!" gasped the elf as tears poured over his snout and into his mouth full of graying teeth. "Kreacher saw him coming out of Kreacher's cupboard with his hands full of Kreacher's treasures. Kreacher told the sneak thief to stop, but Mundungus Fletcher laughed and r-ran…"

"You called the locket 'Master Regulus's,'" said Harry. "Why? Where did it come from? What did Regulus have to do with it? Kreacher, sit up and tell me everything you know about that locket, and everything Regulus had to do with it!"

The elf sat up, curled into a ball, placed his wet face between his knees, and began to rock backward and forward. When he spoke, his voice was muffled but quite distinct in the silent, echoing kitchen.

"Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress's heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper order; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. For years he talked of the Dark Lord, who was going to bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns…and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. So proud, so proud, so happy to serve…"

"And one day, a year after he joined, Master Regulus came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. And Master Regulus said…he said…" The old elf rocked faster than ever "…he said that the Dark Lord required an elf."

"He needed an elf?" Harry repeated, looking around at the others, who looked just as puzzled as he did.

"Oh yes," moaned Kreacher. "And Master Regulus had volunteered Kreacher. It was an honor, said Master Regulus, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who must be sure to do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do…and then to c-come home." Kreacher rocked still faster, his breath coming in sobs.

"So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what they were to do, but took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea. And beyond the cave was a cavern, and in the cavern was a great black lake…"

The hairs on the back of Harry's neck stood up. Kreacher's croaking voice seemed to come to him from across the dark water. He saw what had happened as clearly as though he had been present.

"…There was a boat…"

Of course there had been a boat; Harry knew the boat, ghostly green and tiny, bewitched so as to carry one wizard and one victim toward the island in the center. This, then, was how Voldemort had tested the defenses surrounding the Horcrux, by borrowing a disposable creature, a house-elf…

"There was a b-basin full of potion on the island. The D-Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it…" The elf quaked from head to foot. "Kreacher drank, and as he drank he saw terrible things…Kreacher's insides burned…Kreacher cried for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his Mistress Black, but the Dark Lord only laughed…He made Kreacher drink all the potion…He dropped a locket into the empty basin…He filled it with more potion. And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island…"

Harry could see it happening. He watched Voldemort's white, snakelike face vanishing into darkness, those red eyes fixed pitilessly on the thrashing elf whose death would occur within minutes, whenever he succumbed to the desperate thirst that the burning poison caused its victim…But here, Harry's imagination could go no further, for he could not see how Kreacher had escaped.

"Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the island's edge and he drank from the black lake…and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface…"

"How did you get away?" Harry asked, and he was not surprised to hear himself whispering.

Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked Harry with his great, bloodshot eyes. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back... Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back. The house-elf's highest law is his Master's bidding," intoned Kreacher. "Kreacher was told to come home, so Kreacher came home…"

"Well, then, you did what you were told, didn't you?" said Hermione kindly. "You didn't disobey orders at all!"

Kreacher shook his head, rocking as fast as ever.

"So what happened when you got back?" Harry asked. "What did Regulus say when you told him what happened?"

"Master Regulus was very worried, very worried," croaked Kreacher. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house. And then…it was a little while later…Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night, and Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind, Kreacher could tell…and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord…"

And so they had set off. Harry could visualize them quite clearly, the frightened old elf and the thin, dark Seeker who had so resembled Sirius…Kreacher knew how to open the concealed entrance to the underground cavern, knew how to raise the tiny boat: this time it was his beloved Regulus who sailed with him to the island with its basin of poison…

"And he made you drink the poison?" said Harry, disgusted.

But Kreacher shook his head and wept. Hermione's hands leapt to her mouth. She seemed to have understood something.

"M-Master Regulus took from his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had," said Kreacher, tears pouring down either side of his snoutlike nose. "And he told Kreacher to take it and, when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets…"

Kreacher's sobs came in great rasps now; Harry had to concentrate hard to understand him.

"And he ordered – Kreacher to leave – without him. And he told Kreacher – to go home – and never to tell my Mistress – what he had done – but to destroy – the first locket. And he drank – all the potion – and Kreacher swapped the lockets – and watched…as Master Regulus… was dragged beneath the water…and…"

"Oh, Kreacher!" wailed Hermione, who was crying. She dropped to her knees beside the elf and tried to hug him. At once he was on his feet, cringing away from her, quite obviously repulsed.

"The Mudblood touched Kreacher, he will not allow it, what would his Mistress say?"

"I told you not to call her 'Mudblood'!" snapped Harry, but the elf was already punishing himself. He fell to the ground and banged his forehead on the floor.

"Stop him – stop him!" Hermione cried. "Oh, don't you see now how sick it is, the way they've got to obey?"

"Kreacher – stop, stop!" shouted Harry.

The elf lay on the floor, panting and shivering, green mucus glistening around his snot, a bruise already blooming on his pallid forehead where he had struck himself, his eyes swollen and bloodshot and swimming in tears. Harry had never seen anything so pitiful.

"So you brought the locket home," he said relentlessly, for he was determined to know the full story. "And you tried to destroy it?"

"Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it," moaned the elf. "Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work…So many powerful spells upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open… Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders, Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden him to tell any of the f-f-family what happened in the c-cave…"

Kreacher began to sob so hard that there were no more coherent words. Tears flowed down Hermione's cheeks as she watched Kreacher, but she did not dare touch him again. Even Ron, who was no fan of Kreacher's, looked troubled. Ginny looked like she was about to be sick really. Harry sat back on his heels and shook his head, trying to clear it.

"I don't understand you, Kreacher," he said finally. "Voldemort tried to kill you, Regulus died to bring Voldemort down, but you were still happy to betray Sirius to Voldemort? You were happy to go to Narcissa and Bellatrix, and pass information to Voldemort through them…"

"Harry, Kreacher doesn't think like that," said Hermione, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "He's a slave. House-elves are used to bad, even brutal treatment. What Voldemort did to Kreacher wasn't that far out of the common way. What do wizard wars mean to an elf like Kreacher? He's loyal to people who are kind to him, and Mrs. Black must have been, and Regulus certainly was, so he served them willingly and parroted their beliefs. I know what you're going to say," she went on as Harry began to protest, "that Regulus changed his mind…but he doesn't seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he? And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus's family were all safest if they kept to the old pure-blood line. Regulus was just trying to protect them all."

"Sirius–" Harry tried to say, but she interrupted him.

"Sirius was horrible to Kreacher, Harry, you know it's true. Kreacher had been alone for such a long time when Sirius came to live here, and he was probably starving for a bit of affection. I'm sure 'Miss Cissy' and 'Miss Bella' were perfectly lovely to Kreacher when he turned up, so he did them a favor and told them everything they wanted to know. I've said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did…and so did Sirius."

Harry had no retort. As he watched Kreacher sobbing on the floor, he remembered what Dumbledore had said to him, mere hours after Sirius's death: _I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's… _

"Kreacher," said Harry after a while, "when you feel up to it, er…please sit up." It was several minutes before Kreacher hiccuped himself into silence. Then he pushed himself into a sitting position again, rubbing his knuckles into his eyes like a small child.

As Kreacher nodded and got to his feet, Harry had a sudden inspiration. He pulled out Hagrid's purse and took out the fake Horcrux, the substitute locket in which Regulus had placed the note to Voldemort.

"Kreacher, I'd, er, like you to have this," he said, pressing the locket into the elf's hand. "This belonged to Regulus and I'm sure he'd want you to have it as a token of gratitude for what you—"

"Overkill, mate," said Ron as the elf took one look at the locket, let out a howl of shock and misery, and threw himself back onto the ground.

Kreacher was still sobbing his tiny old heart out after his tale of woe, and Harry just didn't have it in him to really do anything else. They put him back into his "nest" for the night, and then Harry lead the way up to the bedrooms so they could all get some rest.

"You're not getting out of our talk that easily, Mr. Potter," Hermione warned him.

"I know that, but it's late, we've all had a long day, and on top of the story we just had to sit through, do you think any of us are capable of handling more? We'll talk in the morning, Hermione, I promise," he told her. "But for right now, we _need_ sleep. Now nothing much was changed after the Order abandoned this place, so the beds should all still be in the same place. Until we figure out more later on, let's just all go back to the beds we had the last time and get some sleep. We'll worry the details in the morning, all right?"

Looking reluctant, but just as tired as the rest of them, Hermione finally agreed and they all went to bed.

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_Next Morning_

"Thank you, Kreacher," Harry gratefully accepted the surprisingly pleasing breakfast from the ancient House Elf. He was the first one served, seeing as he _was_ the "heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black", but he wasn't the only one at the table. Ron had nearly double his own portion placed in front of him, Ginny was to his right and served right after himself, and Hermione next to Ron and served last. Not that she either noticed or cared since she was, even now, pouring over her 'inheritance' from Dumbledore.

"Found anything yet, Hermione?" he asked as he tore into breakfast.

"Nothing that makes much sense. Beyond the obvious that is," she replied, before putting the book away and focusing on her own meal. "Now are you going to tell us what your 'master plan' is Harry, or are you going to go all mysterious on us like Dumbledore did?"

"Heaven forbid," Harry chuckled.

"Right now," he admitted, "the plan is to give us a few days rest. Also to flesh out your training. We can't do a lot of running in here, so we'll have to supplement. Don't give me those looks. I honestly expected Voldemort to hold his forces off from any type of coupe. The fact that he didn't just allow it, but took the initiative to be the figurehead at the center of it threw off whatever plans I had made. Plus, Ron and Ginny's home was just attacked, Bill and Fleur's wedding was almost ruined, and you haven't spoken to your parents in how long now? We need to take a few days and regroup."

"That doesn't mean we can't be making plans for the future!" Hermione snapped.

"Of course not," Harry agreed casually. "Hence why your training will continue. We aren't taking a vacation here, we're just not doing anything to actively antagonize our current position. We're fugitives now. The Ministry was just overthrown last night. Vol—" Harry stopped talking. He frowned and looked around, like he'd heard some kind of noise. "Vol... de... What the hell?"

"Harry? Everything all right?" Ron asked, concerned.

Harry just held up his hand for silence. "Volde... SON OF A BITCH!" he suddenly screamed.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped, shocked at his language.

"Sorry, it's just..." Harry started to apologize before losing his temper all over again, "DAMN BUGGERING ARSEHOLE!"

"Harry!" Ginny shouted to get his attention. "What is it?"

"They've set up a Taboo!" he snarled. "On Tommy-boy's 'chosen' name. Let's try this; Moldy-Shorts. Moldy-Wart. Tom Riddle. Tommy-boy. Riddle. OK, nothing. New house rule. None of that You-Know-Who crap, all right? Instead, if we're talking about him, come up with something creative. Or just call him Riddle, or Tom, or Tommy-boy. But, unfortunately, we can no longer use the V-word itself."

"Why not?" Hermione asked, still very confused.

"They set up a Taboo?" Ron was aghast. "Damn blighters!"

"A Taboo, Hermione, is basically when the Ministry casts a large-scale spell on a specific word or phrase. Whenever somebody says the specified word, doesn't matter who; muggle, witch or wizard, the Ministry is alerted and any and all wards protecting or around that person are dissolved the moment the word, or phrase is uttered." Ginny explained for her friend's benefit.

"But Harry... how could you possibly know that?" Hermione wanted to know.

Harry shrugged. "One of the many things I'll be teaching you is how to sense the ebb and flow of magic. When I started to say Vol... well, I could feel a build-up of magic, homing in on me like sharks in bloody water. When I stopped just short of saying it, it lingered but disappeared after a second or two. Hence why I had to keep trying until I finally figured out what it was. And for the record, Hermione, it's a Ministry spell, the Death Eaters couldn't even maintain it without the Ministry resources to keep it up."

"What are we going to do?" she practically wailed.

Harry just shrugged again. "Exactly what I told you. Don't say the V-word. Come up with more imaginative word combinations to identify him, or just call him Riddle or Tommy-boy."

"I meant about freeing the Ministry!" she screamed at him.

"Nothing," he answered honestly.

"WHAT?!"

"There's nothing we _can_ do, Hermione," he explained. "And even if there was, we're not ready to try it yet. It could be advantageous in a way, if you think about it. Riddle and his forces now have to divide their attention. Instead of just having a grand old time, they have to keep things running, take the time to _enforce_ whatever new laws they'll be coming up with, and expend further resources in hunting down anyone that they can't keep under the leash. Not to mention trying to find us. Despite the fact that they are a major power in the Wizarding World, there _really_ aren't that many Death Eaters out there, guys."

"So, what are we supposed to do? About the Ministry, I mean?" she asked one final time.

"We let the Death Eaters have it for the time being. It's just temporary, and it'll wake up all those 'on-the-fence' wizards and witches that might have once been halfway swayed by the Death Eater's propaganda. With every day that they don't bring us in, or that somebody else goes fugitive, Riddle and his echelon will be forced to keep tightening the noose tighter and tighter until finally even those that might once have been loyal supporters, will turn on them and practically beg for somebody to give them back the old Ministry. Besides, there's nothing we can do, and until there is, let the Death Eater's be responsible for the entire magical world for a change. Might make a few of them commit suicide after the stress builds up."

"What about the Horcruxes?" Ginny asked.

"I'll take care of them personally. In a day or two. Do I have to recite the list to you, _again_ Hermione?" he pointedly stared at the brunette, who had her mouth open to say something, only to shove a piece of fruit into it instead and continued eating her breakfast. "That's what I thought."

"Now about training..." Ron started.

_Later that day_

"You never said anything about cleaning!" Ron whined.

"It's not cleaning, it's training!" Harry grunted back at him.

"Easy for you to say, you can move at super speed! Not to mention, you've probably got some super secret spell that gives you super strength too!" Ron continued to whine.

"Look, Kreacher isn't as young as he used to be, and that stupid portrait was telling him to let things rot where they stood instead of keeping up with things," Harry lectured his friend for what felt like the fourth time in a row. "The girls are meditating, you didn't want to meditate, we can't go outside to jog, which leaves running up and down the stairs, carrying heavy weights. We need the attic, both for the access to the roof, as well as it's the largest floor space in the whole building. There's too much junk in the attic for us to move freely. Three birds, one stone. And if you keep whining like this, Ron, I'm going to give you an up close and personal demonstration of a very unique battle spell. The _Thousand Years of Pain_!"

Ron grumbled, but he quit his whining and continued to help carry the old junk stored in the attic space down to the ground floor, and all of it that wasn't going to be thrown out as trash, then went on to the basement after a very brief stopover. Harry was the deciding factor of what stayed and what went. Some of it was old furniture, some of it was a painting or two, but every painting that actually talked was instantly considered garbage and put out in the hall to be thrown away. They also discovered, to their amazement, a complete muggle-style weight set and weight bench for exercising. They still brought it downstairs and then took it down to the basement, although Harry promised they would be taking it right back up to the attic once everything was cleared away. Once most of the junk had been moved away, leaving only an unhealthy amount of dust and dead rats amongst other disgusting remains of the Black family legacy. Of course this wasn't done easily or instantly, so by the time that both boys had cleared it just this much, it was already well past lunchtime.

Both boys were grimy, covered in dust, soot, and other things they really didn't want to contemplate, and it was settling into their clothes just as badly as their skin and hair. Coming back downstairs one final time, they went to the kitchen for food, cause they were hungry, but the girls took one look at the pair of them and immediately pointed them back upstairs for showers and a good scrubbing.

Rather than argue about it, Harry just sighed and dragged a protesting Ron after him back upstairs and to the showers. As incentive to make sure the eternally-hungry boy actually washed, he pointed out that unless Ron wanted to _eat_ the crud he was currently wearing, then he might as well just lick himself clean, instead of infesting the rest of their food. Half an hour of solid scrubbing later, both, now clean, boys were back down in the kitchen inhaling the meal Kreacher had prepared for them.

"So, what have you two been doing while we've been in the study?" Hermione asked as she and Ginny watched the boys eat, having had their own lunch a couple hours ago.

"Cleaning," Ron grumbled.

"Exercising," Harry countered.

"Cleaning," Ron insisted.

Harry shrugged and said back, "Getting some physical training in while preparing the attic to be our exercise floor. Still not done yet, but both of us were getting hungry. Come to think of it... why don't you two join us in the attic after we're done here. I think it's time for another lesson."

"Oh good, no more cleaning," Ron continued to eat.

Harry chuckled. "No, no more cleaning for you, Ron. Besides, there's so much dust and waste left upstairs that it is completely unhealthy for anybody to try and clean it. Not even a House Elf with all their magic could do so without killing themselves from toxic inhalation. Not a nice way to go, either way."

"Oh, Hermione," he said suddenly, "Care to teach everyone here the Bubblehead charm, real quick? We'll need it when we go upstairs, believe me."

"Oh sure, it's actually quite simple really..." she proceeded to lecture them and give a few quick demonstrations. Ginny did it flawlessly on her first try, and even went so far to place a Silencing charm on top of it to finally block out Hermione's lecturing. Ron didn't want to give up filling the void called his stomach, so he had to continue to suffer through the girl's lecture until she was finally satisfied.

When everyone had done the charm to her satisfaction, Hermione turned expectantly towards Harry, who smirked before pursing his lips like he was about to whistle or blow, right before a bubble began to form from his mouth and before everyone's eyes, quickly became a perfect copy of the Bubblehead charm, only it was a perfect sphere of crystal clear magical energy rather than a fluid bubble like theirs. He just shrugged and then popped his own bubble and soon after he and Ron were finished with their meal and they lead the way back up to the attic.

"Wow, you weren't kidding," Ginny commented, her voice somewhat distorted through her bubble.

"Hm, I think a combination of _Scourgify_, Vanishing spells, and _Evanseco_ should work, to start with..." Hermione started to list the spells she thought they'd need, but Harry interrupted her.

"No, this is also part of your training. Specifically, I'm going to show you _Elemental magic_, which is part of Battle Magic, but it also incorporates a great deal more, and could even be called its own type of magic without anybody noticing or caring about the difference. First lesson, there are no _set_ elements. There could be four, there could be five, there could be seven, thirteen, a hundred or a thousand, doesn't matter. Second lesson, the essence of the universe is _not_ made up of the elements, nor is it controlled by the same forces, no matter the scale. At the same time, the universe _is_ so dependent upon the elements and their forces that it might as well be nothing but a combination of all the elements to various degrees. Third lesson, there is no contradiction, there is only perspective."

"What does that mean?" Ron blurted out.

"Nothing at all, and everything you'll need to know about what I'm about to show you," Harry cryptically replied. Then he formed a specific seal with his hands, putting both hands together, the last two fingers of each hand straight with the tips touching, the pointer and middle fingers curled together around their knuckles, and the thumbs pointed back towards his chest, also with their tips touching. When the same bluish flames appeared in a circle around his feet, the others knew he was starting whatever spell he was demonstrating for them.

Then he shouted, his voice filled with magical power, "**_Element of the Wind: Cleansing Twister!_**"

Amazingly, before their very eyes, a tornado, in miniature, formed right in front of Harry. Then it went around the room, picking up the dust and other grime from the floor, sucking it into itself. Once it reached an obstacle it couldn't immediately suck up it paused for only a moment before splitting in two, and then both went off in separate directions, continuing to scour the floor and pick up all the built up dust and grime of the ages. Before too long, there were almost a dozen dust-filled tornadoes racing around the attic, trying to get every last speck of dust it seemed, until Harry decided it was enough and they all raced back, along with all the dust and other crap they carried, and fused back into one giant dust-filled tornado.

"Here's the best part," Harry shouted over the noise of the twister he'd created.

He formed a new seal with his hands, still both together. Instead of the last two fingers touching tips and the first two curled down, it was reversed, with his pinky and ring fingers folded together, and his pointer fingers flush with each other, the thumbs tucked in and pointing up with them rather than back at him as before. Then he shouted out the spell, same as before, "**_Element of Fire: Fire Spin!_**"

Instead of coming from him, as they'd expected given his penchant for shooting out fireballs, they watched as a spark started at the base of the dust tornado, and slowly began to grow, and grow, and grow, and grow, until before they'd even fully registered the fact, they were staring at a flaming twister that was steadily consuming all of the dust, and increasing the temperature of the attic considerably.

"Harry!" Hermione shouted, the noise level having risen with the sound of flames with the wind. "You're going to burn the whole house down! And us with it!"

Rather than answer, he just looked over his shoulder and smirked at her. Then he formed a new seal, this time his palms were flush with each other and all of his fingers were interlaced. "**_Element of the Earth: Decomposition!_**" And just like that, the flame disappeared, the wind stopped, and every single trace of the dust that had covered _everything_ in the attic... was just gone.

"Wha... whu... wh... what did you do?" Hermione was stunned.

He just smirked at her one more time before waving them back, this time, the seal was somewhat different from the others. For one, he flipped his wrists so that his hands were palm up, then he formed tight fists with each, and placed them knuckle-to-knuckle, his thumbs facing outward and down. He cast the spell, "**_Element of Water: Cleansing Rain!_**"

They expected small storm clouds to form and for it to start raining on everything with big fat drops of water. Instead, around Harry a haze formed that looked like it could _become_ a cloud, but wasn't quite there, right before a mini-vortex about the size of a dinner plate formed within the haze and a jet of water that looked just as powerful as the kind firetrucks used in their fire hoses. It shot out and sprayed against the wall, moving in a steady pattern, leaving clean, wet, and fresh-scrubbed-looking wood panels and walls. Soon, the jets were shooting out all over the place and it was all they could do to keep from getting blasted themselves.

Funnily enough, all the water that should have been soaking into the floor, maybe even falling to gravity and creating water stains in the ceilings below, instead gravitated towards Harry's feet, where it all evaporated on contact and became part of the mist that was fueling those water vortexes. Before too long, the attic was looking a lot like what it probably once appeared as when the building was first built. What's more, the floor was looking freshly scrubbed, like it'd been gone over with a toothbrush by a whole squad of Marines and SBS.

Finally, Harry stopped the spell and the mist, and water, all vanished as if they'd never been there. He then signaled for them to remove the Bubblehead charms and he began to explain.

"In order; the element of Air, or in casting, Element of the Wind, has many, many, many different properties associated with it, from biological, physical, mental, psychologically, magically, and many more. We'll get to that when we have more time. For the most part, you simply need to understand the nature of the Wind and Air, and what you can use it for. Invisibility, movement, shields, displacement, vanishing, knocking somebody back, cutting something, things like that are good to start with. What I just showed you is a high-end low class spell. What that means is, the spell is not complicated, hence it's low class, but it requires a bit more energy to successfully cast than the simplest spells, hence why it's a high-end low class spell."

"The element of Fire is not easy to control in the slightest, but, as has been proven on countless occasions, that it can be done. What I showed you is actually the second lowest and simplest Fire element spell that I honestly know."

"Seriously?" Ron was impressed.

Harry nodded and explained. "The reason it got to be so big and impressive is due to the fact that I combined it with two other spells, the first of which was an Air element spell. Unless their directly opposing one another, Fire and Air work extremely well together. When they do work against one another, more often than not, unless one is abnormally stronger than the other, they tend to cancel each other out, doing nothing at all. Which brings us to the Earth element spell I used."

"You called it, 'Decomposition'," said Hermione.

He nodded again, saying, "That is a high-end mid-class element spell. It is very similar to the vanishing spells Professor McGonagall taught us at school. That particular spell breaks down matter to it's subatomic particles, we're talking atoms and molecules, just to clarify. Vanishing, simply makes it so matter no longer exists, at least not here in our plane of existence. Decomposition, makes it so it no longer exists _at all_."

"Wicked," Ron grinned.

Harry shrugged. "Well, that's the thing, decomposition takes a long time normally, and the spell really only speeds it up by about a year per second. So don't think you can go around casting this on Death Eaters and watch them waste away before your eyes. No, that's why I combined the three spells instead of casting just the Earth element spell by itself. The Air element to gather everything together, the Fire element to turn it all to ash basically, and finally the Earth Element to turn it all into individual molecules floating through the air, which is close to what it all was becoming anyway."

"And then the Water element spell, to finish the cleaning," said Hermione.

"Something important also happened with that spell," he told them, "Care to guess what it was?"

They were silent for a minute, until Ginny answered, "The water used by the spell wasn't just conjured, like the _Aguamenti_ spells. The initial blasts came from the surrounding air, and as you added more jets, the water pooled around you and was basically recycled to be used by the spell all over again."

"Very good, Ginny," Harry smiled at her. "That's it exactly! Every single spell that draws directly from the elements, or every single spell of Elemental magic does not and cannot create something from nothing. You want to use Air, you have to _have_ air. You want to use Water, you have to have a water source nearby. Fire and Earth are a bit of either/or, as so long as you are _on the Earth_ itself, you will have access to earth and dirt and so forth. Fire, well, anybody with a match can create fire, so rather than simply drawing from a source of fire, like a candle or torch, you need to make sure you have that which fire requires to exist at all, namely fuel."

"You'd be surprised just how much and what all will burn if you put enough energy into it, and all that dust was easy kindling. Also, you, of course, need oxygen and air and something to keep the fire burning. You _can_ use your own magic, namely the magic of the spell, to support and fuel the fire, but that is temporary at best and not able to be supported for long endeavors. Still, that's why there can be fireballs and even jets of flame."

"There," Harry stated, clapping his hands together as though getting rid of remaining dust, "that's the theory portion of today's training out of the way. You two have meditated, Ron and I worked up a nice manly sweat, time to resume your martial arts training."

"What... but... I thought..." Hermione stuttered, while the Weasleys grinned enthusiastically.

"C'mon, Hermione," Ron dragged her forward a few steps, "It'll be fine. We went over this. When we spar, we're not actually trying to hurt one another, we're not actually fighting, we're just practicing how to fight when we go up against the Death Eaters, who want to kill all of us, or worse."

"Plan on worse," Harry commented as he began to stretch his muscles, directing them to mimic him.

"So, Harry..." Ron started to say.

"None of you learn Lightning until you've _mastered_ all of the other styles," he said, resolute.

"Aw, man."

"So what do we start with, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"What I started with," he answered. "Water. Initial defensive form. Good for equally strong defense and attack, while allowing you to be maneuverable enough to dodge and avoid when necessary. Then we'll start on Air and Earth simultaneously. Once you've gotten proficient at all of those, I'll start you on Fire. _Then_ I _might_ teach you a few battle spells."

"YES!"

"He said he _might_, Ronald," Hermione scolded her friend, "And even so, we have to learn all four individual forms first."

"It's easier than I make it look," Harry told her. "Here, just follow my lead and do what I do."

They spent the rest of the day, until dinner time, up in the attic, Harry showing them every part and individual move to the form of his fighting style that he called Water. By the time he finally allowed them to go to bed, their muscles were aching sore and they felt their bodies trying to make the same moves they'd been learning constantly almost. Just before bed, he also had them all meditate one more time, placing them in a circle to prevent any further magic leakage than necessary. They were still erratic in their control, but he felt by the next day he could start them on the next phase of meditation.

In the mean time, however, the combination of magical and physical exercise had exhausted his friends, so he escorted them all up to their beds, before heading back downstairs himself to confer with Phineas Black, Mrs. Black, and Kreacher. He needed to start his plans, and putting at least a few into action.

After getting as much information as was possible out of the Black portraits and from Kreacher that he could on the whole Pureblood mentality, from at least three different angles even, he went about the first of his plans. Which actually needed some testing first of all before he could use it large scale, so he stepped out the front door and walked to the middle of the park that was right in front of Grimmauld Place.

The fact that it was midnight helped as nobody was there to see the house appear out of nowhere, nor the boy that stepped down a few steps that hadn't been there a minute prior. However, very soon, there were several people in that courtyard after the young man whispered a single word.

"Voldemort."

It was short work. The 'Law Enforcement' arrived in near-silent, but not totally, pops around the position Harry'd been standing in when he'd whispered the Taboo word. The instant it took them to appear, he'd already moved into super speed and was invisible to the naked eye.

Sensing that they were both marked, and their auras reeked of dark magic, indicating to him they were true Death Eaters and not Imperius'd Aurors, Harry took little time in disabling and then dispatching the four-man team. In the morning, if you were to look closely, you _might_ be able to detect some trace of the four men standing there and then being dragged off, but there was no blood, there were no bodies, and thus no reason to bother looking in the first place. A week later, a few dogs uncovered a few new bones to chew on, but nobody would see reason for suspicion, as dogs are known for digging up bones all over the place.

After calling another two strike teams to other various locations around London, Harry finally called it a night, as his whole objective was to bring out an Imperius'd Auror to him, but apparently there were still a few more Death Eaters than he'd been aware of, as none came. It didn't bode well for the Ministry, or the Magical Community as a whole, but it was late, and silent kills were more difficult and far more stressful than the loud and noisy ones he was used to, and he was tired.

So, calling it a night, he went back, teleporting directly into his bedroom at 12 Grimmauld Place and stripping naked before falling into bed. At least three of his personalities had, at some point during their lives and training, gotten into the habit of sleeping without clothes, and just because one was raised in the closed-minded, antiquated, inhibited, Victorian-era Wizarding world, he wasn't about to bother correcting that habit.

AN: Sorry about all the filler stuff, but it really can't be helped. Hoping that by the next chapter a lot more original stuff can happen, but this story is more or less writing itself at this point, so we'll just have to see I guess. By this point, I honestly wanted Harry going out, destroying all of the Horcruxes, threatening Snape, killing all of the Death Eaters so it was only Voldemort and the more annoying of his Inner Circle (Read: Malfoy, Bellatrix, Greyback) and then going off to find some place where he could both train his friends and have cool and wacky adventures. Instead, they're still at Grimmauld Place and he still hasn't gone after even one of the Horcruxes. Any suggestions on things you might like to see Harry do _different_ please e-mail me! I'm always open to criticism.


	10. Intelligence Gathering

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe. Tamora Pierce is the awesome author of the "Circle of Magic" books that 'Mage-Harry' is taken from, and of course I don't own Winding Circle nor the concepts of Academic and Ambient Magic. Any future Spy-Magic you might see is going to be exactly like the Battle Magic so far, an amalgamation of numerous sources that might not even be 'magic' on their own, but have been twisted in such a way by me. You have been warned.

Summary: A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.

Story:

_Next Morning_

_The Burrow_

Molly Weasley was working the day away in her new modernized everything-a-witch-could-ever-desire kitchen, mostly just trying not to linger on the fact that all of her children were in mortal danger every single second of the day. And what made it worse, all of them had left the nest. So to speak.

It had been a week since the wedding, since Harry faced off against... against You-Know-Who and his army, since he'd turned them away and defended their home, and it had been a week since he'd taken Ron, Ginny, and Hermione with him on some fool's errand, and saying something about having to go into hiding. If she weren't so scared for them, she'd almost be proud of the boy she thought of as another son. And if she weren't so proud of him, she'd probably wring his neck from being so angry at him.

It had also been a week of hell for those in the Order of the Phoenix. The leaders, Mad-Eye especially, had likewise gone into hiding, but everybody else had to start watching their toes in almost everything they did. A day after the wedding, the wards around the Burrow were reinforced back to what they should be, and the wards Harry had left in place had expanded so they could take the place of all that reinforcement if ever needed. That was the good news.

The worst of it wasn't that they were in hiding, or even the constant fear and uncertainty about the future. The worst of it were all the new laws being passed and what they meant. Arthur and the children were safe. Well, as safe as they could be, but at least they were ever last one of them a registered "Pureblood" by the new Ministry. Even she herself was "safe" by that law. And thankfully they couldn't go around and start gathering all of the "blood traitors" the same way they were even now gathering the "impure" from the magical population. That was just the first, and worst of it all.

Oh, if only Harry hadn't run off with Ginny, then they might have a chance at saving her at least...

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said from behind her.

"Hello d—Harry!" she spun on the spot, her eyes wide with panic, until she saw that it was just his head sticking out of the Floo instead of him standing right behind her, but it was almost the same in many ways. "What are you doing?! We're being watched and that most certainly means that our Floo connection is being monitored as well! Are you trying to get caught?"

"Don't worry, don't worry Mrs. Weasley," he chuckled. "I wouldn't have even tried this if I didn't have protections in place. Provided neither of us says the V word. Still working on protecting against a Taboo... Anyway, how are you? How are things?"

"Well how do you think things are?" she only just prevented herself from bursting out into tears. "All my children are gone, there's a chance any of them could be killed any day now, we've lost the war..."

"We haven't lost the war," Harry sharply corrected. "The other side simply won a battle. The war isn't over by a long shot. As for your children, Hermione and I included, we're as safe as we can be, I promise you that. Which also brings up the primary issue I'm calling about."

"Has something happened to...?" she gasped.

"Nothing has happened," he assured her. "But Ron has a very good excuse for not going to Hogwarts, and in fact not being seen anywhere by anyone. The excuse that Ginny is being shipped back and forth between her brothers will only fly for so long, however. So, we've worked out something that should take care of that."

As soon as he said this, the door to the yard opened and before the Weasley matriarch's eyes in walked her only daughter. "Oh Ginny!" she squealed and raced forward to embrace the young girl.

"Uh..." Harry winced as he watched his transfigured copy get squeezed by one of Molly Weasley's infamous 'Hugs of Death' and tried to interrupt long enough to say, "Mrs. Weasley? Mrs. Weasley. Molly! That's not Ginny. That's one of my... er, that's a Copy of Ginny."

"What? But..." the overwrought woman looked back and forth between the Floo and her 'daughter'.

"Let me explain," Harry said to her.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Mrs. Weasley finally shouted.

"It's our plan. Ginny, or rather _this_ Ginny will stay with you until September 1st when you and Arthur will take this Ginny to the Hogwarts Express at Kings Cross Station. She'll get on board the Express and everybody will see her, a few people will even speak with her. Sometime between the Food Cart distributing snacks and the arrival at Hogsmeade station, this Ginny will dispel herself and that begins the real plan."

"What plan? This... you aren't really Ginny?" Mrs. Weasley was still looking back and forth between.

The Ginny-Copy shrugged sheepishly and grinned in more a 'embarrassed-Harry' manner than anything like how Ginny would act, and said, "Sorry about this, Mrs. Weasley. Oops. I mean, well, I guess I'd better start calling you 'mom' until it's time."

"Time? Time for what? What is this plan?" Mrs. Weasley demanded to know.

"Until it's time for me to disappear," the Ginny-Copy answered.

"And the plan is for the Death Eaters to blame each other for kidnapping her," Harry also answered.

"What? Ginny's been kidnapped!!"

Harry sighed.

The Ginny-Copy sympathetically shrugged at the wizard in the fire, then went about calming Mrs. Weasley down and then sitting her in front of the fire so Harry could properly explain. "No. Ginny has not been kidnapped, and she actually won't be kidnapped either. But. When everyone sees Ginny board the train and then not get off the train, the logical conclusion is that somebody got her off the train in between. That's only possible for fully trained or specially trained wizards, such as Aurors, Death Eaters, or somebody in the Magical Transportation Department."

"I don't understand," Molly was shaking her head.

"Ginny is my girlfriend Mrs. Weasley. At the end of school last year, or rather a few months ago, we started openly dating, and while it was only for a month and a half, pretty much all of Hogwarts knows that we were dating. And it wasn't a single, first and last date either. Even when I 'broke up' with Ginny after Dumbledore's funeral, she was and is still a target because of association with me. Just as much as Ron and Hermione are. That's why Ginny came with us instead of staying behind."

"Oh." She was clearly overwhelmed, but Harry didn't have the time to call back later to finish this.

"If Ginny disappears in a way that the only explanation is that somebody took her from the Hogwarts Express with advanced magic, there are only three suspects. The Death Eaters. The Order of the Phoenix. Or me. I'm in hiding and when you take 'Ginny' here shopping for her school supplies in a couple days, everyone will 'know' that I left her behind, like they 'know' Ron is sick with an incurable disease. With me?" he asked.

She nodded her head, her eyes focusing just a bit, but still a bit in shock.

"Good. In me leaving her behind, it will momentarily reinforce that we broke up and she's going back to Hogwarts while I'm still in hiding. Then, everybody sees her board the Hogwarts Express. They'll see it with their own eyes. She'll speak to several people on the train, remaining in public sight at all times and will not drink anything so that nobody can blame it on Polyjuice potion or anything like that. Then, maybe an hour, maybe a few minutes out from Hogsmeade, she disappears."

"With the only possible explanation being that she was magicked away by somebody else," Mrs. Weasley repeated his earlier words, receiving a nod from Harry.

"Right. Here's the thing though; who would want to kidnap Ginny Weasley? While they can't make it as illegal as being a Death Eater used to be, it is known that the Weasley family were all members of the Order of the Phoenix. If the Order did not want Ginny to go to Hogwarts this year, they wouldn't have let her get on the train in the first place. So the Order has no logical reason to kidnap her from the train, even if they have the means. As for me... well, I'm in hiding and I broke up with her. I know she's going to Hogwarts, but if I broke up with her, why would I kidnap her from the train? Also, there's the question if I, while in hiding, even have the means of doing it in the first place."

"Then, we have the Death Eaters, aka the 'new' Ministry of Magic. Every single last one of them has both the motive, the means, and the reason to kidnap Ginny Weasley. Because every single last one of them is hunting me down and the best way to catch anything is with bait. Part of the Death Eater mindset is even if we did break up, I'm a 'goody-goody' and will want to save her. Another thing about Death Eaters, they really don't trust each other. When they realize that a girl that could be used as collateral for capturing Harry Potter has been kidnapped, they'll wonder why it was done, then they'll start to wonder who could have done it, followed very shortly by who did it. And when each single Death Eater realizes that he, or she, did not kidnap her, it must have been one of their fellow Death Eaters."

Mrs. Weasley's eyes suddenly lit up with understanding. "Then they'll start to ask around, then argue, and it may even lead to outright accusations, furthering the divide between them. Oh, that's brilliant Harry!"

"Except about the part where it involves my daughter," she growled at his head in the Floo.

"She's safer with me than at Hogwarts, as while it might not be done on the train, it might eventually be done that some Death Eater really _does_ kidnap her to draw, if not me, then somebody from the Order out. Hence, the Copy," he gestured for the Ginny-Copy still sitting next to her.

"I could have explained all this in a letter sent with Hedwig, like those notes from last night were," he pointed out. "Still, I felt it was better to do this face-to-face. So you understand. Ideally, I'd rather be off on my own, but your children, and Hermione, have made the choice to join me, and I'm not about to imbue my will over theirs. Neither should you. Unfortunately..."

"Yes?" she asked, getting nervous rather suddenly.

"Unfortunately, the atmosphere is getting rather heated. And I'm not talking about the fireplace. The political climate and general attitude in the Wizarding World at the moment is like a wand charged to fire an Exploding Curse. We can't maintain regular communications, but Ron and Ginny promise to write when they can, and when it's possible, I'll try and set up face-to-face meetings, but that's going to be rare. I'm taking a rather large risk using the Floo as it is, as it's still a Ministry controlled service, even if I managed to hi-jack a single connection, it took a lot of power."

"Well, put my babies on the Floo right now then, I want to talk to them!" she demanded.

Harry sighed again. "Unfortunately, that's not how this works, and you know it, Mrs. Weasley. To do that, I'd have to sever this connection and then set up a full-body Floo transfer, or another two head-transfers. Any one of which would require more resources than you are aware of. I'm sorry. I'll have Hedwig deliver some letters tonight." Suddenly, he jerked his head as though hearing a sound that no one else could. "Damn, that was fast. Sorry, Mrs. Weasley. Gotta go!" And with that, and a swirl of green flame, he was gone.

She couldn't believe it. Just like that, they were so close to her, she could have spoken with them, and then they were just... gone. Again. She broke down crying right there in her kitchen. She pulled the false-daughter close to her, not caring that it wasn't her real flesh and blood, instead a bit of magically-empowered shadow, but still... Like a toddler holding a teddy bear close, Molly Weasley openly cried to the Ginny-Copy.

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_One Minute Later_

_'I am never doing that again, no matter how much, or who, begs me!'_ Harry thought to himself as he pulled his head out of the fireplace and turned back to the kitchen to face his friends.

"Next time, I am _not_ doing that, understood?" he growled.

"Thanks mate," Ron sincerely spoke. "I don't think any of us could have actually pulled it off there."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I should make it a requirement of your training," he complained. "No cool spells until each one of you faces down an upset Molly Weasley."

All three teens' eyes went wide with open terror. Ron said, "Cold. That's cold, man."

"Live with it," he snapped back.

"Well, at least that's over with," Ginny quickly tried to change the subject. "Now we just have to deal with where we're going to find out what's going on, and how we're doing it. And while it's great learning a useful spell, none of us are good enough to keep it going for long. Certainly not to the degree where we could be seen in public without worrying about somebody seeing and recognizing us."

"Which is exactly why Hermione stole Moody's supply of Polyjuice potion, which all of you will be using in turn. And it just so happens..." he brought up his hand and held between his fingers were three individual hairs. One brunette, one blond, and one black. "Don't ask me how, but these are hairs from Andromeda Tonks, Luna Lovegood, and Viktor Krum. Hermione, got the flasks?" She nodded and held them up, each holding 10 oz. of untouched Polyjuice potion.

One by one, Harry dropped each hair into each flask, saying, "Now, a single swallow of the potion keeps you changed for one hour. So, no matter how bad it tastes, so long as you keep this flask with you, and take another sip just before your hour is up, you won't change back and the clock starts anew. Everybody has a watch with them? Good. We'll walk out the front door and Disapparate to different locations and meet back here around lunchtime. Maybe a little later. If, and I stress _if_ one of use gets found out, captured, or winds up in a sticky situation, I'll take care of it, and everybody else just come straight back here, all right?"

"Are you sure, Harry?" Hermione hesitated to ask. "I mean, surely there's greater strength in numbers..."

"In battle, yes, undoubtedly. When you're trying to remain hidden and you don't want anybody to know who you are, what you're doing, or where you're going, it's best to remain alone and the fewer involved, the easier it is to handle." Harry explained.

"Now," he handed a specific flask to each of them, "Ron, you'll be Krum, cause there is no way in hell I'm letting you be a girl for any reason whatsoever. Therefore, you're going to Diagon Alley and just hang out and see what it's like to be a celebrity for once. I give you two hours tops."

"How come I have to come back so soon?" Ron whined.

"No, you can stay in the Alley as long as you want, and for however long you have potion. I give you two hours before you're crawling back thanking Merlin that you're not a celebrity yourself," he answered with a laugh. "Trust me mate, it's not all it's cracked up to be."

"Yeah right," Ron scoffed, but still looked a bit less eager than before.

"Hermione, while I would love to give you a lesson in why Luna is the way that she is, now is neither the time nor the place for such. Mrs. Tonks is known to visit Diagon Alley, the Leaky Cauldron, and ironically enough, Tonks once told me that she sometimes visits the Ministry just to see her daughter. It's up to you where you go, but if you're going into the Ministry, please tell me ahead of time so I can go with you as either Tonks, or some other Ministry employee."

"How am I supposed to do that?" she asked. "We're going to be in disguise, and knowing you, you're going to be changing your disguise every few minutes!"

"Simple," Harry shrugged, then brought out a device that had never before been seen in the Wizarding World. Ever. "Just call me before you head there, I'll meet up with you, then we'll go, OK?"

Hermione reached out, unable to believe it, even as she took the device from Harry's hand.

"Harry," she whispered, "where did you get a cell phone? And how is it even working? Doesn't magic make electrical things go haywire?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "To answer your first question, I actually conjured the physical cell phone. But the calling plan that allows it to work cost a nasty knut or two. Suffice it to say, just hit 'Send' and it will auto-dial my own calling device and it works as good as advertised, I can promise you that. As for the latter... we're in downtown London, Hermione, not at Hogwarts anymore. While there's more ambient magic indoors than out at the moment, it's not nearly enough to truly bother electricity on the scale that Hogwarts does."

"Oh," was all she could say to that. "Aren't cell phones extremely expensive, though?"

Harry shrugged. "Not really. Just have to know who to talk to. The American companies have really started to mass produce them in recent years, not to mention miniaturizing them with each new generation. But I found one or two British companies that were willing to help me out with that. Look, don't worry. It's not like the Ministry is going to finally catch a clue and start tracing my money through _muggle_ companies and such."

Finally, Hermione relaxed and accepted the gift for what it was and pocketed the phone.

"What's a cell phone?" Ron asked, him and Ginny with looks of utter perplexity on their faces.

Harry chuckled and briefly explained as they finished getting ready for their day out. After he explained cell phones, in very general terms using lots of wizard and magic based comparisons, he snapped his fingers and then held out the last flask of Polyjuice potion.

"Almost forgot there, Ginny, you'll of course be going as Luna. I would suggest not going back to Ottery St. Catchpole, even if people wouldn't really notice a Luna that doesn't behave as she usually does," he said.

"Actually, it would probably be a good idea for me to go to Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron instead of Ron. Ron can go to Hogsmeade or Knockturn Alley and still get his lesson, I'm sure," she teased her brother. He glared at her, but she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"No, actually, I'm the one that'll be going just about everywhere else. Just... everyone try and go only places where these people themselves would go on a normal day. Well, a normal day considering the political climate that we're facing right now," he trailed off. "Anyway, I'm pretty much going to be teleporting all over the country, but like I explained to Hermione, just keep your eyes open and keep your wits about you and this will be like any other day going out. Don't forget to pick up every bit of news you can. Hermione, get as many newspapers and books and other tidbits as you can. Ginny, be sure to pick up every issue of the Quibbler that you can, and Ron... don't get caught, and remember to take your potion every hour, on the hour."

"All right, all right, you don't have to keep reminding me!" Ron exclaimed. "I'm not stupid you know!"

Then he looked around at their things and stared for a minute or two. "Uh, which one is mine, and where am I going again?" It was all the rest of them could do to keep from laughing.

_Hogwarts_

_Headmaster's Office_

Professor Severus Snape sat back in the big chair. It had been a long time coming, and while he regretted the means with which it had been obtained, it was extremely satisfying to finally be on the other side of the Headmaster's desk. He'd taken out most of the old man's trinkets, keeping only a few things. Fawkes, the phoenix had disappeared the day of the funeral taking it's perch with it. There were also the Portraits.

That was the real kicker however. The man was dead, he was in the Dark Lord's good graces and given actual responsibility, actual power. He had effectively gotten away with murder and even been rewarded for it and was now the Headmaster of Hogwarts... and he was _still_ taking orders from Dumbledore!

Not that he really had to complain about much, the man was bloody mad brilliant, and at least the Portrait didn't go on and on about lemon drops every five seconds. Still got a bit pushy when it came to completing the man's final plans though.

"Is something troubling you Severus?"

"Not at all, Headmaster, what gives you the idea that something would be troubling me?" he sneered.

"Well, much as I appreciate the compliment, aren't you supposed to be the Headmaster now?" a voice he thought would be long behind him by now said in place of Dumbledore's elder drawl.

Spinning around abruptly, he raised his wand and aimed it at the one person that he didn't expect to see back at Hogwarts. Ever again.

"Potter!" Snape snarled at the tall, dark-haired, green-eyed wizard. "What are you doing here?"

The youth actually had the gall to shrug and smile at him. "Could ask you the same question, but I already know the answer to mine. The answer to yours, unfortunately, is that I need to talk to you, and get some answers. Dumbledore was good, I'll give him that. He had something over you that kept you loyal to him despite absolutely everything. I also was with him, in private, in public, and in passing, and. I was there when he died. I would say, when you killed him, but that's not entirely correct, is it?"

"What are you blathering on about now, Potter?" said Snape, while privately very glad that he managed to keep up his sneering disposition. It was something he had perfected over the years, being able to hide his thoughts and emotions from both magic, and his face.

Walking forward until he was in front of the desk, despite Snape still standing behind it pointing his wand at him, Harry stared at the new Headmaster for a minute, then he smiled again, and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk of course, but it was the fact that he was still smiling even as he had a wand pointed in his face that put Snape even more on edge.

"You know, I could capture you, or even just report your whereabouts and put myself in even more favor with the Dark Lord," Snape threatened, hoping to get a better reaction out of the boy.

"Please do, I'm really looking forward to our next rematch," Harry grinned. "Also, there are no students here yet, so the only thing I really have to protect is the castle from damage, and that's easy enough to do. Sides, I've got a bet going on with myself, about just how much of a coward Moldy Shorts really is. And who do you think you're kidding anyway? If you were going to turn me in, at all, you would've done it ten times over by now. Since you haven't, I now know you're just as much Dumbledore's man as I was."

Scoffing, Snape lowered and put away his wand, and sat back down in his chair. The big chair, the Headmaster's seat. That's right, he had the power here, he just needed the reminder. "What are you doing here, Potter? Do you realize the risk you're taking, just by being in my presence? After everything..."

"Yeah, I hadn't expected Big V to actually allow the Death Eaters to go on with their plan to take over the Ministry," Harry frowned, although it was more of embarrassment than anything else. "Why do you think it was that I made such a show when I fought him? If I could've done all that, single-handedly, don't you think I also could've gotten myself, and all of my guard away, completely undetected by the Dork Lord or any of the other poofters on broomsticks out there that day? I wanted to get him obsessed with me. So obsessed that he would spend every single waking hour having his Death Eaters hunt me down and not getting a wink of sleep."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but the plans of children are hardly foolproof. The Dark Lord saw through such a petty means of challenging him and decided to up the schedule, so to speak. He lead the raid on the Ministry himself, and the first task, after ensuring control was to gather a fighting force strong enough to hunt you down no matter where you go."

"Oh," Harry grimaced at that. Shoulda seen that one coming.

"Where have you been hiding yourself, by the way?" Snape asked.

"Tore down the Fidelius and put up a new one, made myself Secret-Keeper," he answered.

"You mean...?" Snape's eyes went wide. Harry just nodded.

"Clever," the man complimented him. For probably the first time in like... ever.

Harry let it pass, and moved on. "Now, what I'm doing here, as I said, is looking for answers. And a couple of other things, but I want you to tell me everything you know, then we'll move on to Dumbledore's Portrait over there. For starters; what does he have over you that makes you _this_ loyal?"

"What makes you think I owe you anything, Potter, let alone answers?" Snape shouted at him.

Harry just stared at him until he finally broke. They spoke for over half an hour, Snape finally admitting to the truth, and giving Harry a perspective he'd never been granted before, of both his Potions Professor, his mother, and his father and the man's friends. He also learned the details of what Dumbledore had Snape doing all of these years, both as spy and in other regards. Finally, Snape woke up Dumbledore's Portrait.

"Hm...? Harry? What are you doing here?" the Portrait of Dumbledore mumbled as it woke up.

Sighing, Harry slowly turned from Snape to the Portrait and answered, "I'm here to get some answers, Professor. As Phineas might, or might not have told you, I have been speaking with him about the current situation of things. As well as Mrs. Black to get a better picture of what is going through most of the Purebloods' minds right now. I've got to say, I think I've figured out most of what your plan was, Albus, and it's really rather brilliant when you start to peel back the layers."

"What are you blathering on about?" Snape asked, rather exasperated by this point.

"Well, let's go back to the beginning, shall we?" Harry sat back and propped his feet up on the desk.

"I don't suppose you know this yet, or maybe you do, Professor, but Rita Skeeter is writing your biography. Seems she found one or two people that knew a few things about your past that not everyone did. Oh, everyone knows about your tenure at Hogwarts, and how you fought and defeated the Dark Lord Grindelwald and your fabulous, fabulous career. Seems there's even more to your past however. Such as whatever it was that you were seeing the night you died, while you drank a potion crafted and brewed by Riddle himself."

"Harry, I..." the Portrait tried to say something.

"No, no, no, it doesn't even matter, really. The past is the past. But things really begin with the fact that your career didn't even really start until _after_ you fought Grindelwald. Before then, you went to Hogwarts, you went on record, on _record_ that you planned to go on a grand tour of all of magical Europe. Only, after you graduated... you didn't go. Public record shows you just went home instead. Then Grindelwald left the North to come to England, he openly challenged you several times during his attacks. Finally, you fought him, and then you come to Hogwarts as the Transfiguration Professor in the very early half of the century. Then, you're sent to collect a new student, and orphan named Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Harry frowned when he saw the Portrait struggling to stay aware of the conversation, but Snape was paying very close attention. Turning to his former Potions Professor, he continued, "As Dumbledore showed me in our... private lessons, Tom came to Hogwarts and quickly gathered his Death Eaters, released Slytherin's creature and played at being the Heir of Slytherin, then graduated a year or two before Dumbledore became famous for finally defeating Grindelwald in 1945. Over the next few years, Riddle worked in Knockturn Alley, then, very abruptly, Tom Marvolo Riddle disappeared... and ten years later, Lord Voldemort appeared with his Knights of Walpurgis, his Death Eaters and some people suspected that he'd been trained or was the heir of the last Dark Lord, Grindelwald. He was actually something much worse, as we all know."

"Wizards are fascinating creatures really," Harry suddenly stood up and started pacing the office, growing agitated. "I mean really, the power to control and use magic, to make _anything_ they desire happen with just a bit of concentration and a flick of a wand. And they're the biggest herd of sheep in England. Even those in charge are just in doing what the 'law' tells them to do, and those that don't follow the law, well they're worse than sheep as they just do whatever the hell they feel like."

"So, the Dark Lord starts gathering followers, those that agree with him, those that want his power, or even just a piece of it, and the sheep that swell the ranks and are just plain too stupid and fearful to do anything else _but_ follow along. I mean, really, how long can anyone keep an Imperius going for anyway? It would need to be reapplied daily, as sleep allows the subconscious mind to rise up and fight off the control. Unless there really is some kind of Death Eater boot camp out there, it's not very likely that everyone that had been under the Imperius curse back then _stayed_ under the Imperius curse for any much longer than they were useful."

"And we come to the crux of it, as that means everyone claiming to be under Imperius, and was following along with the Death Eaters for more than a few weeks at the _most_, had to fall into the other groups. Wanting power, and fearing the Dark Lord's too much to do anything else. You never really planned to have me stop him until after he'd taken over, did you?" he directed the question to the Portrait.

"It was the only way," came the tired reply.

Harry nodded. "Wizards are sheep, but even sheep eventually get tired of being pinned in too much if the wolves are in there with them. Which is why I was given my choice," he whispered to himself.

"What are you doing here, Harry?" the Portrait asked yet again. "Besides seeking answers that is."

"I'm changing the plan," he answered.

"What?" both man and Portrait asked in unison, shocked.

"Tommy-boy has gotten too big for his britches, he never should have been allowed to get as powerful as he is. Not without someone or something to keep him in check. In your efforts to change the world for the better, Dumbledore, you've allowed him to become the defacto ruler of Magical Britain! If you thought Hitler with Grindelwald was bad, just killing muggles, gypsies, and Jews, how bad do you think Moldy Wart is going to make it with the way he and his followers ridicule those that are still magical? Muggle-born, half-bloods, and blood traitors? I'm not about to let that happen!"

"And what, exactly, do you think you can do about that, Potter?" Snape snarled.

"Killing him, or even getting him to kill himself is not enough," Harry answered, still pacing, but sounding more introspective than angry as he'd been before. "And getting him pissed enough to come at me with _everything_ that he has will take too long, and too many lives. Which means, getting him to be a bad enough leader that everyone hates him, even his most loyal supporters, without raising the death toll in the slightest. Not a coupe, not a revolution, not even an uprising. We need an evolution."

"What? What does that even mean?" Snape asked, utterly confused.

The Portrait of Dumbledore let out and audible sigh. "I had been hoping for so many years for such a thing, Harry. If you can evoke such a change in the people, I would wish you all the power to do so, but I cannot see how it would even be possible..."

"Simple," Harry told them as though he were merely reciting factual text in the classroom, "You start with the youngest and teach at least three full generations how to live better lives as better people. Just so we're clear, that means a full one hundred years, with no less than fifteen fully graduated classes all taught the better way. But that's if we were to start over. Which is what your plan had us doing, Dumbledore. My plan is different. Not better, but different. And faster."

"Oh, and just what is your faster plan?" asked Snape.

"Start with one, and spawn the rest," came the straightforward reply.

"What?" they both repeated again.

He hesitated, which was clearly noticed by both of his former teachers. When he finally spoke again, it was with a resigned tone to it instead of the same factual recitation he'd been speaking with so far.

"I will make myself into the Magical world's Savior, and then purge out the bad elements and make it so everyone follows my example directly," Harry explained.

"You arrogant, little—" Snape started to insult him, only to find himself across the room, held a full foot off the ground by Potter's hand, which happened to be around his throat. The boy didn't even look like he was trying, just really, really, really annoyed.

"I am not my father, Severus," he said quietly. "If anything, I am my mother's son. I just happen to have my father's dashing good looks. But I will not have you insult my mother by calling me 'arrogant' anymore, all right? Given what she had to deal with, growing up and going to school, and what I've been through myself in my own lives—life, I know that neither she, nor I, were ever at any point in our lives, arrogant about anything at all. If anything, I have a bit of an inferiority complex, no thanks to you and your lot of Slytherin trash."

Continuing to hold the older man up against the wall by his throat, Harry continued to speak, only allowing the man enough room to breathe as he explained. "Saviors are not heroes, they're not celebrities, or glory hounds, or even all that popular, Professor Snape. Saviors are martyrs. They give up absolutely every single thing they have to become something needed for everyone else. Sometimes it's an image or an icon, sometimes it's a sacrifice, literally giving up their life so that countless others may live theirs."

"When I say that I'm going to become the Magical world's Savior, I mean that I am going to give up my normal life to make sure that every witch and wizard in the world can have their own normal life. I'm not about to actually have the gall and try and sacrifice myself against Riddle, weakling that he is. I might as well just commit myself to personally killing every dark wizard and witch on the planet to save time and effort. What I'm actually going to do is become an icon, a symbol. Something pure and untouchable that will make every single magical creature of the world wish to emulate me and look to me as an example. Think about it for a second."

"Right now, the Death Eaters are the wolves, and You-Know-Who is the Alpha of the pack. The sheep are cornered in their pin. For the past few hundred years, they've had nothing but wolves, or at best dogs to guard and guide them. Time for the Shepard to tend his Flock."

With a casual gesture, Harry tossed Snape back across the room, and almost magically, he landed seat first in his chair behind the desk. Slowly walking forward, Harry stepped up to the desk and placed both fists in the middle as he leaned forward so he was an inch from poking his face with the man's pointy nose. He sounded like an upset parent rebuking a child that had just said or done something they were too young to know about, as he continued to explain things to the Headmaster.

"I just wanted to see what it was that Dumbledore actually had planned here, and I got my answer. Something you should be aware of, young Malfoy defeated Dumbledore with a simple disarming and stunning combo, then took his wand from his own hand. Less than one hour ago, I stole myself onto the Malfoy property, cornered Draco, and did the same thing. I defeated the defeater of Dumbledore and took his wand as a trophy." Harry reached into his robes and pulled out a black wand that had no clear marks about it, save for something that looked like a triangular eye at the base of it.

"Shortly after that, I snuck onto the grounds, and used Draco's wand to open up Dumbledore's tomb so I could get this. On my way up here to speak with you, I had my owl return Draco's wand to him and decided to keep this one, as I am now it's master. You have no idea what this is, Snape, but Riddle does. Or at least, he will. When he comes to claim Dumbledore's wand, he will find an exact match laying where I picked this one up. Exact, except for the fact that it's just a piece of wood and not a real wand. If he asks you about why it is not responding to him, tell him the truth. I was there with Dumbledore when he died, and I took his wand."

"W-w-why sh-should I t-tell him this?" Snape stuttered.

"Other than the fact that it will save your life?" Harry shrugged, sounding like he really didn't care wither way if Snape lived or died. "It will infuriate Riddle even more and I am hoping that it will do what I wish for it to do, and make him angry enough to come after me directly. The next thing that you need to do, Headmaster," he put his face right back into Snape's, "is do what needs to be done. Tommy-boy trusts you, enough to give you some actual power, such as being Headmaster of Hogwarts. But Riddle does not truly trust anyone. He will be sending people, other trustworthy Death Eaters here to watch you and to add a bit of... dark culture to the lives of the students here."

"I want you to kill them the day they get here," Harry told him, standing back up.

Harry had never seen Snape go pale with shock before. It was an interesting sight, to say the least.

"HARRY!" the Portrait shouted in outrage.

"Have you gone mad!!" the Headmaster tried to stand up, but Harry immediately forced him back into his seat. "Are you even really Potter, is this supposed to be some kind of test?"

"No test. I told you," he said, "that you need to do what needs to be done."

"Let me explain before you fly off the handle." Harry tried to placate the man. "The Death Eaters that will be sent to Hogwarts, no matter who they are, will have three missions; watch you and spy for Big V, teach and encourage the Dark Arts and recruit more Death Eaters, and torment, torture, and abuse every muggleborn, half-blood, and blood traitor or non-Death Eater wannabe they can. Your job, as Headmaster of this school, is to protect the students and ensure their proper education."

"I don't care how you do it, the details are best left to you," he said encouragingly. "You can even keep them alive and under Imperius and Veritaserum for the first week of the term. Either way, they need to be dead. Not out of the way, not contained, not even near-death in hopes of redemption. The ones that will be sent won't be wanting or capable of redemption as it is. They need to be dead." He gave Snape a meaningful look, then stepped back and made sure the man understood him. When he was sure that he had, he merely nodded back.

"Oh!" Harry cried just as he was turning to leave, "Almost forgot that. Ginny Weasley is going to be kidnapped from the Hogwarts Express on its way from London. If anybody starts asking questions, either about her, or the dead Death Eaters," he shrugged, "blame them for the kidnapping. If replacements are sent at any point, kill them too. Or, make sure their stay is very temporary. Keep the Death Eater presence here to the absolute minimum at all times, otherwise, I'll hear about it and come by and do a little... purging of my own."

"What makes you think I'm going to follow your orders, Potter?" Snape shot at him as he left.

Only to blink and find himself on the floor with Potter holding an emerald staff capped with a very sharply tipped gold spear point to his neck.

"They aren't orders," Harry casually remarked, removing his Rod as he did so, "They're directives. Orders can be ignored or forgotten. A directive cannot be either, and if it is disobeyed without due cause, there can be... dire consequences. Such as me coming to do the job myself and making a mess of the situation."

"Understood," Snape coughed as he slowly got back to his feet. When he looked again, Potter was gone.

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_Later that night_

"I can't believe it, we've got them all?" Hermione blurted out, looking at the small collection laid out on the kitchen table in front of them.

"Yep, well," Harry shrugged, "except for Nagini, Moldy Short's pet snake. But so long as he doesn't know all of these are kaput, it shouldn't be too difficult to get close to the thing and finish the job. Have to make a point not to fight him until after we get it though..."

On the table were three distinctive items. A golden locket with a snake shaped into an S on the front. A large, ornate gold cup with a badger etched into it. And a crown-like jeweled tiara, though the technical term for it would be a diadem.

"Where did you find them all?" Hermione blurted out.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes at her.

"You mean they were actually all there?" she seemed shocked.

"Yes, the Diadem of Ravenclaw was in the Room of Requirement. I had Kreacher hunt down Dung and caught him with it just before he sold Slytherin's locket to Umbridge of all people. And I transformed myself into Bellatrix Lestrange and removed Hufflepuff's Chalice from her vault at Gringotts. Also had time to read a few books and do some other stuff while I was at Hogwarts. Dobby says hi, by the way."

"I cannot believe you did all that and went to all those places, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "You told us to keep it under the radar and not attract any attention!"

"I'm pretty sure I did not use those words," Harry teased her, "but you'll also recall that the reasons I gave for why you shouldn't act unduly is because at this moment in time, all three of you can _barely_ perform basic self-transfiguration, whereas I can change myself into anything I want, teleport directly into Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, and even Moldy Wart's bathtub without being detected, and I can summon dragons and even an all-powerful phoenix if I so choose to. Not to mention do a bunch of other stuff that I haven't even revealed yet. Even if I got myself surrounded by the entirety of the Dork Lord's army, I can handle myself and at the very least could get away if not come out on top. Not to say that I doubt your skills or anything, but it's a guarantee that I could, and to be perfectly honest, neither of you three can say the same."

At first they'd all been glaring at him, but when he said that, they had to concede the point and reluctantly nodded their heads in agreement. Thankfully, Kreacher was just starting dinner, so the uncomfortable atmosphere quickly dissipated.

"So, while I know the generals, I was not paranoid enough to follow you lot around all day," Harry said as they cleaned up for supper. "What all did you get up to during the day?"

"What else?" Ron beamed, "I was Viktor Krum! In Diagon Alley! I was actually mobbed! By Fangirls®! _Twice_! It was the best bloody day of my whole life!"

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. So much for Ron learning a lesson from his experience. Wait a minute... "Wait, you, as in Viktor, got _mobbed_?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was great!" Ron enthusiastically gushed.

"Did anybody actually show up to, well, stop the mob?" he asked.

"No," all three of them answered. Ron still gushing, but both Hermione and Ginny looked... well, annoyed would be the closest term for their expressions really.

Sighing again, Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose in hopes of relieving the tension headache he felt coming on. "All right, moving on, Hermione, how about you, how was your day?"

"Well, considerably less... eventful, than Ron's was, but I believe I obtained some, useful information," she shrugged with an evasive expression. Sighing again, Harry turned to Ginny with hopeful eyes.

"She didn't take her eyes off of 'Viktor' for the entire day and almost drank all of her potion in the first half hour!" Ginny admitted to him. "Usually she was standing back from the crowd, scowling at all of them like some kind of jealous stalker."

"I was _not_!!" Hermione screeched.

"Girls," Harry said warningly, thankfully heading off the impending argument.

"I wasn't," the brown-haired witch put in the last word on the matter.

"After listening in on the gossip around Diagon Alley," Ginny continued her story with nary a shrug at Hermione's dismissal, "I hung around the Leaky Cauldron and had lunch. Picked up some more interesting bits. Saw you and Kreacher corner Fletcher in the early afternoon. Nice tackle by the way."

"Thank you," Harry grinned at her.

"Then I took the Floo to the Ministry and actually managed to talk my way into several sections just by mentioning various conspiracy theories Luna's shared with me over the years, as well as talk about nargles and wrackspurts anytime somebody looked at me too closely. Ran into Dad, too," she admitted.

"How was he?" Ron asked, suddenly much more subdued.

"Worried, stressed, and still as overprotective as ever. The minute he saw me, he grabbed me and took me down to his office and kept me there for as long as he could. Umbridge is in charge of the reforms the Death Eaters are bringing to bear. The notices will be put out tomorrow, Dad said. It would've been done already, but I overheard a lot of different people speaking over how the 'new regime' has been having a bit of trouble cementing it's hold on certain departments. Especially the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Mysteries."

"Get the newspapers and everything?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, left them in the sitting room though," Ginny sheepishly answered. "I can go..."

"No, that's all right. Kreacher," he called. The ancient house elf appeared instantly.

"Yes, Master?"

"Ginny brought home a stack of newspapers and magazines with her and left them in the sitting room. After you've served our dinner, I want you to please bring the entire stack in here so we can read them, and then I want you to do what you most want to do, all right?" Kreacher actually smiled and hopped to and fro on his feet, his droopy ears even twitching a bit in excitement. Then he immediately disappeared, only to reappear with supper, and the stack of newspapers and magazines a second later.

"You're too good to him," Hermione smiled at him, while secretly scoffing that Kreacher enjoyed being told what to do, and the fact that what he most wanted to do, was _clean_!

"He doesn't have a lot of years left," Harry told her. "I'd rather he enjoy his time while he can. Then, I'll honor his last wishes, whatever they may be. Anything from chopping off his head and mounting it on the wall, to rejuvenating the 'Most Ancient and Noble House of Black' to freeing every house elf in the world. Sirius was unfair to Kreacher and I plan to make it up to him. To be quite honest, Sirius was a bit of an arrogant prick, particularly when it came to his family for some reason."

"So what are we doing tomorrow?" Hermione asked, hoping to change the subject.

"More training," Harry replied. "Until you're good enough that you can hold a transformation without need of Polyjuice potion. After lunch, however, we'll go out and start getting more intel. In pairs this time, instead of all over. Maybe visit some of the Order of the Phoenix, _as other people_!" he almost had to shout when they all started to protest at once. "Just to get some communication and to take advantage of their own sources of information as well."

"Sound good?" he asked.

"Yeah," they grumbled, turning back to their meals. Harry sighed and just picked up an issue of the Daily Prophet as well as the Quibbler, Witch Weekly, and Wizarding Journal.

TBC...


	11. First Spell

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe. Tamora Pierce is the awesome author of the "Circle of Magic" books that 'Mage-Harry' is taken from, and of course I don't own Winding Circle nor the concepts of Academic and Ambient Magic. Any future Spy-Magic you might see is going to be exactly like the Battle Magic so far, an amalgamation of numerous sources that might not even be 'magic' on their own, but have been twisted in such a way by me. You have been warned.

Summary: A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.

Story:

The next morning, Harry had them all up in the attic, doing aerobics and practicing the different forms for each style, one after the other. They were _almost_ to the point where he could show them how to start integrating the techniques, able to shift styles mid-move even. Ginny was still excelling at them all equally, Hermione was, ironically, starting to pick up Fire and Earth, but clearly still favored Water, while he had Ron doing push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and all other kinds of 'ups.

"Good, good," he complimented them as he walked between all three of them. "Ron, keep your elbows straight. Switch to Air, Hermione, you need more rounding out there. Good work, Ginny. Try going faster."

They followed his instructions accordingly, and he couldn't help smirking a bit when he turned away from them, but his immature sides couldn't help but find the fun in all of this. Still, his 'drill-sergeant' personality was only partially faked. To reinforce it at any point, all he had to do was use his imagination to come up with what would happen to them if they slacked in their training at all, or if he failed in any part of teaching them what they needed to know.

After another fifteen minutes, he saw marked improvement in all of them. It was subtle, and being the ones wearing themselves ragged, they couldn't tell, but if you knew what to look for you would see it. "All right, cool down time," he announced as they stopped their current exercises to stand at attention. "First up, Air."

Immediately they all three started to circle around him, holding their hands in 'guard' position. On every third step, they jumped up and twisted their bodies in a spinning leap, continuing the circle, upon landing they sunk down and did a sweeping kick before turning fully around to reverse their guard position, still continuing in the same direction though. He let them circle him nine full times, jumping about six times per circuit, before announcing, "Next, Fire."

They stopped circling, instead adjusting their breathing and crouched low, as though they were preparing to sit down with their knees spread equidistant and in time with their breathing started making simple punch, block, deflect combos, perfectly mirroring each other as Harry stood in the center of their triangle.

Another five minutes of this, he announced, "Earth."

They sunk lower into their stances and adjusted their feet and arms. They kept the breathing the same but beyond that, for the next five minutes they just stood/sat there, doing nothing but breathing. Harry smiled and nodded his head. "Excellent. Now, Water."

They flowed up from their stances as though it were nothing more than getting out of bed after a good nights sleep. They started to walk around him in a circle once again, only in the opposite direction this time, and instead of jumping every third step, they moved their arms... no, that's inaccurate... their arms _flowed_ around their bodies, moving in liquid grace with their feet and legs as they circled him in a whirlpool motion.

Ten minutes of this later, he simply nodded his head, and in such a way one might think it had been planned that way all along, they came to a smooth, identical rest at the exact same moment.

"Excellent," Harry grinned at them, barely able to keep himself from applauding almost. "As far as I am concerned, your conditioning is complete. Now comes the hard part of keeping you in this condition, while teaching you the rest of the fighting styles."

"Does that mean we can learn a new spell?" Ron begged, like an excitable puppy that just saw you pick up a ball to toss around.

"How are you doing on the last one I taught you?" Harry teased him.

Ron frowned, "You taught us how to self-transfigure ourselves! That's hardly some cool, amazing, impossible Battle Magic spell! And for the record, we can all hold out for more than two hours, no matter who we choose to look like. Ginny and me even sparred one time, looking like different people! So we can even keep it up under stress and even when being hit!"

"Good. Can you change into animals yet?" Harry popped his balloon with a smile.

Seeing his friend deflate, he continued. "No? Well, how about change from one form to another without reverting back to your original form? Without using seals? Without smoke? Seamless transition so if you blink, it'll look like your form replaced the previous instead of actually changing? No? OK then. Until you master, and I do mean _master_ this first spell, I'm not teaching you another, Ron."

"What? But how can you expect us to do all that? McGonagall never had us 'master' anything!" Ron complained. "I mean sure, we kept at it until the change was complete for each spell, but she never had us _mastering_ transfiguration at all!"

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "I wanted to start you on a simpler spell. Like telekinesis. But you insisted on self-transfiguration, Ron. And for the record, even if it wasn't my first spell of Battle Magic, I _did_ master it to all the effects I just mentioned before learning anything else. Before I was thirteen, for the record."

"Oh come off it, Harry!" Ron exclaimed. "You can't honestly expect us to believe that when that part of you was learning Battle Magic, that he only learned _one_ spell at a time, not allowed to learn a new one until he'd fully mastered it? Come on!"

"Fully mastered? No," Harry grinned, enjoying this opportunity to wind his friend up a bit. "Did it well enough to be proficient in its use and able to learn the rest on my own without direct tutoring? Yes. Here's the deal, Ron. As much as you ask to learn more spells, all I ask is that you actually _learn them_. If you have a problem with a certain part of it, ask for my help. I'm not going to cram these lessons down your throat, but the lessons are the lessons. Anything else, you have to ask for. And, anything you ask for, expect to receive it. You asked to learn a Battle Magic spell. I showed it to you and allowed you the opportunity to learn it. Ron. You. Haven't. Learned. It. Yet."

"So," Ginny interrupted before her brother could make a mess of things, "how _do_ you do all that extra stuff? Change into animals, do it without smoke and with a seamless transition?"

Harry smiled, and for a moment, the three of them saw the old Harry in this new amalgam before them.

"I am so glad you asked, Ginny. In fact, I was waiting for _someone_ to ask for help from the beginning," he chuckled. "Animals are easier than you'd think. It also works the same way as the disguise variation. Picture an animal in your mind. No details, just picture a lion, tiger, bear, whatever and go through the same process of finding the shape of the spell, then push your magic through it. There is one trick to it though..."

"Great! Lion Animagus form, here I come!" Ron shouted and focused his magic, right before his hands automatically formed into three distinct seals, and his form exploded in a cloud of white smoke. When it dissipated, a red-maned lion stood there, one might even say it was _smirking_.

"Like I was saying," Harry continued in an annoyed tone now, "The trick is that unlike changing your human appearance, an animal transformation doesn't rely on a constant stream of magic. Once the change is made, it's permanent until you either consciously dispel it, or transfigure yourself back into your original form."

It's a very funny sight when you see a lion, with a red mane, look shocked. Even more so when it's eyes roll up in it's head and it keels over in a dead faint.

"I really should leave him like that," Harry sighed. Then he shrugged and waved his hand over his lion-formed friend, dispelling the transformation, and with another explosion of smoke, Ron Weasley returned to being human. He was still unconscious, but none of them were all that eager to revive him.

"Are there any other tricks to animal transfiguration?" Hermione asked in effort to change the subject.

Neither Ginny nor Harry could tell if she was trying not to lecture them, or not laugh at the small prank, but regardless, they decided not to ask her about it.

"A few," Harry answered. "Some will be obvious after you first manage it. To reverse it, and go back to your human form, or even into another form, be it another animal or a different human form, all you need to do is focus on the image and apply your magic to the shape of the spell once it forms. Any form that is not humanoid, or something that a glamour could do just as well, will be semi-permanent until you change it again. When you're going back to looking normal, especially after several transformations, all you need to do is focus on your self-image. What you look like, something about _you_ that will help you to focus. It's easier than it sounds, trust me. Ready to try it, for real this time?"

"I think I am," Ginny offered, stepping away from them and closing her eyes to concentrate. A moment later, her hands flashed through three different seals, and a moment later, she transformed with a small explosion of white smoke into a chestnut roan mare with a bright red mane and warm brown eyes. Seemingly looking over herself she neighed and reared in exaltation before settling herself.

With a heavy pause, the horse seemed to concentrate for a moment, right before another explosion of white smoke concealed her from view once more and Ginny Weasley was standing there, looking slightly ruffled, but perfectly normal.

"Oh wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Good job, Ginny," Harry smiled at her and nodded.

"Thanks," she said back, blushing slightly. "That was easier than I thought it would be. So I just have to picture any animal, and I can change into it the same way?"

"Pretty much," Harry shrugged. "Some animals, depending on numerous factors, require more magic to change into than some others. For example, I have the _worst_ time changing into insects, or any kind of bug really. Oh, don't get me wrong, I can do it no problem. It just takes about three times as much energy for me to change into a bug than just about any other creature, magical or otherwise there is."

"Really? I wonder why that is? I mean insects, while yes smaller, are considerably simpler creatures compared to mammals or anything else. And what do you mean magical creatures?" Hermione asked.

"Well, magical creatures are protected, in a way. It's like using Polyjuice potion for anything other than a human transformation, it runs the risk of mutating you into something else, or leaving you permanently changed or disfigured. That's why you didn't see me pull out a dragon or phoenix transfiguration earlier when I was showing you all the spell. It is possible to do a fairy transfiguration without too much trouble, but it carries its own set of... risks."

"How's that?" Ginny questioned.

"Those that succeed in transforming themselves into fairies," he answered, "often don't want to change back. Being a fairy is like being turned into pure happiness, combined with utter selfishness, mixed together with uncontrollable laughter. I've done it. Twice. Each time it was a monumental struggle just to concentrate enough to do anything, let alone change back into my human form when done. Don't tell Ron about this, by the way. If he tries one of the bigger creatures, a griffin, dragon, phoenix, whatever, that's one thing. Often the spell will just fail and he'll have wasted his magic. But..."

"I suppose it's ridiculously easy to change into a fairy, just as it is difficult changing back?" Hermione finished for him. Harry only nodded.

"Well then, I suppose it's my turn," Hermione took several deep, cleansing breaths. Then her hands flashed through the seals and after a brief explosion of white smoke, a fairly normal looking otter appeared in her place. Thirty seconds later, after the otter had taken the time to see she had succeeded, and another explosion of smoke, Hermione stood there with a very satisfied look on her face.

"That's great, Hermione!" Harry congratulated her.

"Good job," Ginny added. Then she abruptly turned to Harry and said, "Now, how do we do that seamless transition? Being able to change between forms instead of going back to our original forms first?"

"And how do we do it without all of the smoke, too?" Hermione asked, waving her hands to help dispel some lingering wisps.

"Oh, that's easy, just use less magic," Harry answered. At their looks, he held up his hands to forestall them as he explained, "It's actually something that you gain through experience more than anything else. Once you've got the shape of the spell, you don't have to spend so much time focusing to create it in the first place. Once you know the shape, just picturing it in your mind will be enough to activate it. To control the effects, all you have to do is limit, or increase the amount of magic that you push through the shape of the spell to cast it."

"And the seamless transition?" Ginny asked.

"Wake Ron up," Harry turned and started pacing back and forth before them. While Hermione did as he asked, his mind raced to come up with a way to explain this to them. It wasn't something that he'd been taught, to be perfectly honest. Joshua had only done enough to teach him how to transform into other people and various animals. Everything else, smokeless, seamless transition, animal-to-animal, all of that had come afterwards, and he'd done it himself. Through trial and error and a lot of practice, but he'd figured it all out himself, rather than have it handed to him by the Time Wizard.

Therefore, explaining to them something that he'd figured out on his own and had not been explained to him at any point, required some highly original thought. Especially since it wasn't something consciously done, but that he eventually just started doing when he got panicked. After a long while, what he'd figured out was how to turn that reflexive reaction into conscious will. Again, not something easily explained.

"Oh, what happened?" Ron moaned as he was revived.

"You fainted when you heard Harry tell you that were stuck as a red haired lion for the rest of eternity," Ginny teased her brother without any mercy.

"Ahh! Hey wait, how come I'm not a lion anymore?" Ron was patting himself down just to be sure.

"Because Harry changed you back. Honestly Ron!" Hermione scoffed.

"All right!" Harry interrupted the bickering. "I've got an exercise that I want all of you to do for the next couple of days. It should help you out in fully learning the Transform spell to it's full potential. It might not. That remains to be seen. Once all three of you are performing the spell to my level of satisfaction, I'll immediately show you the next battle magic spell, and maybe another just as incentive. But _only_ after all three of you can perform this spell correctly. Agreed?"

The girls immediately nodded, while Ron looked like Christmas had come early and exclaimed, "Wicked! We finally get to learn some cool battle spells! All right!" The other three all rolled their eyes at Ron's assumption that it was a foregone conclusion that they had already learned Transform spell correctly and were already learning the next one.

"This exercise is designed to help you get used to being in bodies not your own, and as a result, I'm hoping, that you'll learn how to shift between those bodies much easier, and hopefully much quicker than it took me to learn to do the same," he explained.

"How long did it take you to learn the Transform spell, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Just over two years," he answered without hesitation.

"WHAT?!" all three shouted, but Ron was the loudest.

"Yeah, while it wasn't the _first_ spell I was taught when I learned Battle Magic, the Transform spell was one of the first few. Actually, I think it was the fifth spell I was officially taught," his eyes rolled up in thought.

"Anyway, so, yeah like I said I was thirteen before I had fully mastered this particular spell, but I started learning it when I first started training. Which was when I was eleven to answer that question. I could change into animals and such first. Human forms took me longer, and the extra stuff I just mentioned, seamless transition, animal-to-animal, smokeless transformation? That took me a lot of practice and experience before I could even try that sort of stuff. But, you're insistent on going the fast way."

"Wait there's one other, wasn't there?" Hermione spoke up, "Using the spell, but without using seals?"

"Seal-less magic use is the mark of a true master, whether that be of the whole style, or a single spell. And the only way to learn that is to become so familiar with the spell that you can picture the entire spell, of every shape and variation it produces, without using the mnemonic devices. To provide you with an example, doing magic with seals is the same as using silent magic in Wizardry. And even then, you still see adult wizards say the spell out loud, even after they and everyone else that graduates from Hogwarts, learned the methods of doing magic silently in school. Hence, why you see me doing seals at all. Every spell I can cast, I can do so just by thinking of it and nothing else, and even then, a few spells don't even require _conscious_ thought to activate. Still, I use seals, my wand, my staff, for the same reasons. It's easier, and faster."

"But, doesn't that make people lazy?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged, "In some ways, yes. But this is Battle Magic you're learning here. If it comes down to a matter of seconds in casting an attack spell, even if it means the other person sees you performing the seals and knows what's coming, are you going to worry about stealth and subterfuge and waste an extra second or two focusing your thoughts, or are you going to go ahead and use the seals that will get it off quicker?"

"Oh, well, when you put it like that..." she blushed.

"Don't worry, that's a good question, and better to _know_ than to wonder forever and _need to know_ later."

"Now then, the exercise I want you to do is this," Harry quickly outlined the steps and everything else.

_Next Afternoon_

_12 Grimmauld Place_

"RONALD WEASLEY!! DON'T YOU DARE!" Hermione's voice screamed out.

Moments later, there was a loud series of crashes, followed by Hermione's voice screaming out in inarticulate rage and fury. Harry and Ginny looked up at each other when they heard the other pair of Gryffindors chase each other down the stairs, making a surprising amount of racket, all things considered. The unusual thing about this scene, however, was that Ginny was currently in the shape of a brown-eyed panda, while Harry was calmly standing on the ceiling, apparently fine-tuning something about the fixtures.

Suddenly a red and white furred basset hound slid into the room, quickly chased by a ginger-haired bobcat. Not Crookshanks, who was a kneazle-cross, but an actual mountain lion like bobcat.

"STOP RUNNING AND LET ME TEAR YOU TO SHREDS YOU LITTLE PERVERT!" the bobcat shouted, with Hermione's voice.

"Not bloody likely!" the basset hound barked back in Ron's voice. They chased each other for a few more rounds before the basset hound suddenly changed itself with a loud pop into slick-furred weasel, which quickly escaped through a hole in the wall. Rather than crash through said hole, the Hermione bobcat merely made its way to the door and out into the hall, changing into a bushy-furred wolf along the way.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME THAT EASILY!" she howled after the weasel.

After they left, Panda-Ginny popped into a rather large sea turtle. Slowly, she looked up at the still-standing-on-the-ceiling Harry and asked him, "Are these exercises _really_ necessary?"

"Necessary?" he said. "No. Functional and capable of allowing you to learn how to better use the Transform battle spell? Yes. Besides, you're all getting much better. Hey, it took Ron at least two hours to figure out how to change into an animal and back again last night! Now all three of you are shifting between animal forms every half hour! That's real progress."

"I'm not arguing that," Turtle-Ginny said slowly, "It is just the drain on our magic. Having to stay in basically any form other than our own for so long, and then when we do change to anything else other than what we've already been, and making it so we _all_ change at the same time and _when_ the others change as well... Harry, I'm getting tired."

"Go eat something, take a nap, read a book, go meditate," he suggested. "This is just as much about increasing your magical reserves and power as it is getting you all acquainted with the spell. Don't worry, you're not about to forget your true form just from a few days of this. Believe me, I'm not going to let any of you change into any kind of magical creatures until you're more than ready. Like say... in twenty or thirty years," he grinned at her.

She snorted, and briefly considered just withdrawing into her shell and taking a nap for an hour or so. Still, she wasn't about to fall behind in the little transfiguration war that Ron and Hermione were engaged in, and if she fell asleep, then she wouldn't keep up whenever they shifted into a new form. Also, there was that thing Harry said about meditating, something that he was doing just as much as they were, almost more in fact, so it wasn't about to become a part of their training that would no longer be needed in the future.

Taking long, slow breaths to the count of seven, Ginny began to meditate and focus on her magic. It was getting easier to do with each use of the meditation techniques Harry had taught them. Ginny could _feel_ the core and pulse of her magic throughout her body practically all the time now, but at the same time it's like noticing you're breathing. You know it's happening, you are even consciously aware of it and able to control it, but a lot of the time its there and you're doing it without having to think about it or notice it all the time either.

Currently, while just laying there as a turtle, Ginny worked on the latest meditation technique Harry had asked her to try. Focusing on and gathering all of her magic down into a tiny, tiny, tiny little ball, (Harry said they could imagine it to be whatever they wanted it to be, so Ginny chose a Snitch) until it was all compressed into the ball without leaking any magic out of it at all. It took her a while, but it happened faster than the last time, and a lot faster than the first time she managed it!

The new thing Harry wanted her to try was to try slowly drawing upon that compressed magic Snitch and let it slowly trickle and fill up her entire body. Considering her body was a turtle at the moment, it would be entirely unique from when she initially tried this in her normal, human body.

It was easier than it sounded, all it required was concentration really. After a few minutes, considerably shorter since a sea turtle's body is somewhat smaller than her human body, and very differently proportioned, she had succeeded in the exercise, and the first thing she noticed was how she felt.

When in her human form, she felt her magic suffusing every cell of her body and it was like swallowing a whole cauldron of Pepper-Up potions and then have a Cheering Charm or two cast on her. For a turtle, the effect was quite different.

Her shell felt like it was made of diamond, but at the same time was lighter than air. Her skin felt perfectly moist and pleasantly warm, which was just perfect for a turtle. And overall, she felt like she had just plopped down in the middle of a sauna at high noon, but still with that moist and warm atmosphere around her. In other words, for a turtle, she felt just as great as she did when she did this as a human.

Now for the real test, she decided. Time to cast a bit of magic.

"Ginny," Harry suddenly spoke up, "What are you doing?"

Startled, but thankfully not enough to lose her concentration, she looked up and answered him, "Practicing. Why?"

"Beyond the obvious," he replied, "What _exactly_ are you practicing?"

"That new meditation technique you taught us to do with our magic," she answered straightforward.

"Stop," he commanded, jumping down from the ceiling and landing right in front of the turtle. "In fact, change back to normal, now! Besides, you're the one person that doesn't really need this exercise. Your control over self-transfiguration is a whole level above Ron and Hermione. Which is surprising, to say the least."

Turtle-Ginny stared at the raven-haired wizard for several long seconds, before mentally shrugging. Magic was magic, and changing back is as good as any standard levitation spell. Keeping her body flooded with her magic, she then simultaneously focused her will upon changing back into her human form, and was shocked out of her seat when instead of _poofing_ with an explosion of white smoke, her body shifted instantly. One second she was a turtle laying on the couch, less than an eye blink later, she's sitting there in her normal human body, fully clothed, sitting comfortably like a normal human rather than laying on her stomach. It was of note, due to the fact that previously, when they changed from animal to human, their human bodies were in the same poses their animal forms had been in, no matter how ridiculous they might be compared to each other.

"What...? How...?" she stuttered.

"That's one of the tricks that it's normally too dangerous for you to try," Harry commented as he sat down beside her. "For starters, if you'll take a moment to notice, over half of your magical reserves were used up by that gimmick there. It works both ways, just to clarify."

"What does? What just happened? What did I just do?" Ginny exclaimed, while silently confirming that Harry was right. By her measure, she'd used up actually over ¾ of her reserves, though her core was already restoring all her reserves, it was surprising that the trick Harry had shown them was so easy to do, yet so damaging in the long term.

"The meditation you were practicing," he answered, "it was the one where you fill your body to the brim with magic after compressing it into your core, right?"

"You didn't describe it like that last time, but yeah," she nodded.

"What doing that does, is it more or less puts you at your magical maximum potential. It's incredibly draining, but with enough practice, it does become easier and you can do it for longer and more often. Same as training and working with any muscle in the body. Put enough power behind it, you can do almost anything. Put too much power behind it, you might still do it, but you'll probably kill yourself trying."

"As for what you just did, quite obviously you just did the seamless transition between forms. Technically speaking, instead of forcing a transformation all at once, which is cast from a single point, for example the tip of a wand is the focus for any spell. Transfiguration spells especially. Self-transfiguration focuses from your core, but also the hand seals that are used too. When you filled your body with magic, and then changed back, instead of the change originating from a single point, every single one of your cells, at the exact same moment, all decided to change together. So, instead of a single point that forced a big change, you had millions of points of focus that each made a single individual change."

"So, that's the trick to it?" Ginny clarified.

Harry nodded. "It's also why I stopped you from casting other magic while in animal form. Animals... well, they have their own magic, and in some cases, they do not mix well with human magic. So, please, trust me when I say, you are not ready to try casting magic while as an animal. If you get yourself in a jam while transfigured into an animal, no matter what kind, or whatever the situation is, I'd rather you change back to human than try casting what should be a simple spell, only to have it literally blow up in your face and half kill you and everybody around you."

"Is it possible? To cast magic as an animal?"

Harry's face grimaced and he sort of hemmed and hawed for a moment or two before finally admitting, "OK, yes, it is possible for a transfigured wizard to cast magic while in animal form, but it's dangerous all the same! Possible is one thing, safe and guaranteed to work are something else entirely!"

"Why is it you didn't try these dangerous spells when you fought... Riddle and his Death Eaters?" she asked him. He shrugged for a moment, before he fell into silent thought.

Finally, he told her, "Actually, it's _not_ possible to use _Battle Magic_ while in animal form. Raw magical aura is one thing, and that is easily done actually, but Battle Magic spells are too complicated to be used in animal form. But... there are other ways of using magic that allow it. Not spells necessarily, but a way to produce magical effects all the same. I'll have to investigate this a bit more..."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, I'll have to practice with it myself," he answered with a grin.

She grinned back, then took his hand in hers and leaned herself against his body, putting her head on his shoulder. "So, what other tricks are there to shape-shifting?"

"Magical shape-shifting depends entirely upon control. Magical control, self control, body control. Tonks could explain that a bit, but it all comes down to control. Increase your discipline, your control in all forms, and you'll be a shape-shifter in no time at all," he explained.

"So, how much longer are you going to make us do this exercise of yours?" she asked, enjoying the way that he was playing with her shoulder-length hair as she lay against him.

"Until Ron and Hermione figure out what you just did," he answered. "As far as you're concerned, the exercise is over. All you need to do is practice it on your own and you'll have it down in no time. Work on your control so you don't put yourself into a coma from magic exhaustion any time you want to practice more than twice a day, though."

"So what's next?" she asked him, holding his hand with hers and closing her eyes in relaxation.

"Practical experience," was his cryptic reply.

_Two days later_

_Diagon Alley_

"You guys ready for this?" Harry, disguised as some random face, but in wizard robes, asked his companions.

"As we'll ever be," Ron replied, though he looked like Cedric Diggory's twin brother at the moment.

"Let's just get this over with," Hermione whined, currently done up to look like another random face, but much more subtly, as it was still Hermione's own face, just with straighter hair, different colored eyes, chubbier cheeks and her buckteeth returned, as well as a few inches in height and... other areas too.

"_Thisss isss an interesssting way to learn _Parseltongue_ I must admit,_" Ginny hissed in Harry's ear, seeing as she was a standard six foot viper draped over his shoulders at the moment.

"_Considering that _Parseltongue_ once was spoken by your lips in your first year, I didn't think it would be that hard for you to relearn it,_" he said to her in the same language.

"All right," he said to them, switching to English, "Let's do this. And have some fun while we're at it."

That said, they all quickly went their separate ways. Except for Harry and Ginny of course, since the latter was riding on the shoulder of the former. The plan, and what they were doing in Diagon Alley in the first place, was threefold; first, it provides each of them with practical experience in using their "Battle Magic Spell" in real life conditions. Second, to get some more reliable intelligence about the state of things in the world. And lastly, Harry wanted to strike a blow to the Death Eater-controlled Ministry and remind them that he was still out here and he was not going to just go away.

On a side note, Harry had finally admitted to his late night excursions where he sometimes summoned a hit squad by saying Voldemort's name in hidden away locations, and then isolated and defeated the ones that showed up, be they Death Eaters or unfortunate Auror's. Needless to say, the argument got long and loud.

He had also, unfortunately, promised to no longer go out alone, but he'd managed to swing that so long as one of them went with him, he could still go out. Hermione swore never to let him out of her sight again, while the Weasley's simultaneously begged and promised to go with him the next time.

Hence, the current plan. Once they had successfully infiltrated Diagon Alley, which despite all the current tension of the political climate, people still had to eat, shop, and sell their merchandise, they would then each do the Taboo thing with the intention of bringing as many Death Eater and Ministry hit squads to the Alley as possible. One at a time, in different locations, one of them would whisper Voldemort's name, and before they were found, but after someone had seen their face, they would disappear for half a second and shapeshift, to either another face, or a nonthreatening animal, like a mouse, or a bird of some kind.

Once everyone had closed shop and pretty much left the Alley, leaving only the Death Eaters and Ministry flunkies, Harry would summon up a small hoard of dragons, or dragonlings actually, and they would each change into the most dangerous, nonmagical animal they could think of and it would then be a free-for-all.

Of course, as Harry reminded them all countless times; no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

The transfigured Harry and snake-Ginny slowly ambled their way down the Alley until they came to the corner that turned into Knockturn Alley. After all, a faceless wizard with a python draped across his shoulders would be perfectly normal for the Dark Arts marketplace. Once they'd reached the end of the side Alley, he reached out with his magical telepathy, aka Mental Skills of Battle Magic, and brushed the minds of Ron and Hermione, each on their own ends of Diagon Alley, Hermione next to Gringotts, Ron still standing next to the entrance behind the Leaky Cauldron.

_'You guys ready?'_ he asked.

_'Ready,'_ he heard from Hermione's thoughts.

_'Let's do this!'_ Ron mentally exclaimed, his wild grin mirrored in his mind.

"Voldemort," all three whispered as one.

Turning on his heel, Harry placed Ginny on the ground and stepped around behind a stack of crates and then shifted into a completely different face and body, more resembling your typical middle-wage wizard, pot-bellied with thinning hair... and Lucius Malfoy's face. Ginny, hissing in quiet laughter slithered along the side of the Alley until she came to Borgin & Burkes. After she'd managed to get herself inside, she curled up under the counter and waited for a moment.

Finally, she heard in her mind, Harry's voice whispering, _'Everybody ready?'_

_'Born ready!'_ she thought back "at" him.

Thanks to the connection his magic had established between all of them, she then heard the others responses as well. _'I am in place,'_ came Hermione's matter-of-fact reply. _'This is bloody brilliant!'_ Ron crowed.

Then, taking a unique breath, snake-Ginny hissed out, in perfect English, "Voldemort." Afterwards, she slithered out and shifted into a small mouse, easily sticking to the shadows and then escaping back into the Alley, where she shifted seamlessly once more into a brown-eyed black cat. After that, she had to sit still for a minute and got some water from a nearby puddle, feeling the drain on her magic of so many quick-shifts back to back. She heard Harry contact them all once more, but she did not respond, only just able to hold her form.

_'Is it someone else's turn to be the animal?'_ she finally asked once she'd gotten enough strength back.

_'Hermione, next shift after this call, you go animal. Ginny, you sit tight, and when you feel up to it, go to human and then _immediately_ into a disguise. You can't be seen away from the Burrow or your family. But to be on the safe side, head to the Twins' shop and shift in their back room. Catch your breath, gather your energy. Oh, and don't let your brother's see or find you.'_

_'Thanks for the advice,'_ she grumbled, but still changed her course for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

On the other side of the Alley, Hermione, currently a tall and leggy blond with dark eyebrows, glanced around, whispered, "Voldemort," one last time, and then walked around a post along the side of the street right as she transfigured herself into a brown feathered pigeon and flew off. Of course, Hermione, while she _could_ do it, was not yet skilled enough at seamless shifting, but thankfully at the exact same moment that she exploded in smoke, a street vendor let off one of Filibuster's Fireworks, one that happened to explode into a lot of smoke. So thankfully, nobody noticed the new and unusual pigeon flitting about the buildings and the street.

_'Death Eaters should be on their way, if they haven't already infiltrated. Time to start Phase 2. Ron, you're up first, I'll cover you. Hermione, I'll go next, so be ready to shift, quickly and quietly. Ginny, where are you?'_ Harry checked in with each of them, also allowing them to hear the others' responses.

_'I'm in the back of Wizard Wheezes,'_ Ginny answered. _'Human again. Still me though. I just... need a couple more minutes, then I'm good to go. Do you want me to be me when I do it, or changed and then change again? Or what?'_

_'Ginny, you'll do it after me, _but_,'_ he emphasized, _'after both me and Ron are in place to cover you. Just in case, and nobody says _IT_ in front of witnesses unless they are covered. Understood?'_

_'Understood.'_ They all answered as one.

Harry glanced around himself, already seeing several, rather obvious, 'hidden' Death Eaters and there were Aurors streaming out from the Leaky Cauldron. They were still being discreet, which meant they could not localize the people breaking the Taboo, only the location. They weren't even looking around the spots where the name had been spoken already.

Taking a deep breath, and subtly altering his facial features to more resemble his normal face, but not _exactly_, he walked right up to one of the 'hidden' Death Eaters and whispered right in his face, "Voldemort is a wanker and a coward. Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort."

While the Death Eater was reeling in shock, Harry stepped around behind him, seamlessly shifting into a cleaned-up image of Peter Pettigrew and bumping into the same Death Eater he'd just whispered at, making it seem as though he were a completely different person rushing past. For a minute or two, the lone dark wizard just spun around on his feet, looking like a chicken with its head cut off.

Harry was well away and in position to cover Ron, just in case, by the time the idiot finally went up to one of his fellow Death Eaters. Ron, incidentally, looked like a non-sneering version of Draco Malfoy, and his clothes didn't match with the Pureblood Slytherin's reputation either, but that was fine for the circumstances.

Giving the Draco look alike a slow nod, he gestured to another of the searching Death Eater's, this one far less obvious. Ron acknowledged and made his way over and behind the indicated wizard, and whispered, yet still audible, "Voldemort is weak. I heard the Chosen One thoroughly thrashed him. Voldemort got beat by a lone seventeen-year-old boy. Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort."

Before Ron could get out of the way though, two more Death Eater's moved up to hear the last bit, even as the marked one spun around and growled at the blond.

"You won't think that for long, traitor!" the Death Eater spit in his face, as the other two grabbed him by the arms and held him steady.

Harry, seeing this, was already in motion, and still in his Pettigrew disguise, ran directly for the altercation, and just as he reached them, he bumped into the first Death Eater and one of the others holding Ron, and then raced right on past. Yet still making sure that it looked like he was actually running from someone.

Meanwhile, Ron had gotten enough space to free himself and at the same time the three Death Eaters were looking at the running fugitive, he seamlessly shifted himself into a perfect mirror of the first Death Eater, clothes, face, everything.

When they looked back, Ron was the first to react, grabbing the Death Eater he'd whispered to earlier, and shouting, "Oi! Think you're pretty quick with the Polyjuice, eh? Don't think you can get away that easily. Take 'im boys. It'll wear off in an hour and then we can find out what exactly he's been saying here."

The two nodded and grabbed the real Death Eater and quickly dragged him off, while he was looking stunned, going back and forth between the two goons and Ron, stuttering, "But... what...? But... no, wait!"

After they were gone, Ron went over to the Ice Cream Parlor and sat down, changing his appearance once more, this time to a blue-eyed blond who was clearly still in school, and with rather decent, but not rich robes. He sat down next to a dimpled blond in pink robes, who was sharing a sundae with a pair of cats, one with black and white patches and green eyes, the other with ginger fur and almond brown eyes.

"Well, things seem to be heating up rather quickly, wouldn't you say?" Ron asked the girl, and the cats.

"Not really," 'Harry' replied, taking a moment to enjoy the unique experience of eating ice cream with a cat's tongue. "Still simmering, I'd say. For one thing, while there are fewer, there are still shoppers running about. But, from the looks of it, and the Apparitions we just heard, the shops will be closed very soon, and that's when things will start to heat up. Ready, Ginny?" the cat turn to the blond.

"Born ready," she grinned, repeating her earlier expression, while taking another spoonful of her sundae.

"Hey," she defended herself, "never know when we'll get to enjoy this again. Besides, for what I have in mind, there still aren't enough of them yet."

"Don't make yourself too much of a target," 'Hermione' warned. "The objective is to prove the Taboo can be broken without us getting caught. If you're the center of attention, it will be hard to get you away from it, being a magical shapeshifter or not."

"Actually, and I'm sorry to burst your bubble like this, Hermione," the black and white cat apologized to the ginger furred feline, "but this is actually a tactical strike, not a psychological one. Once enough of them are here, and the Alley is evacuated of the innocents... Well, let's just say the fight over Surrey is going to be child's play by comparison."

"Wha—!" Hermione nearly screamed, but Harry's... paw was faster.

"Go, Ginny," the cat ordered, while giving a mild glare to Hermione, before leaping down from the table. Ron too, gave a hard look at the cat as he got up alongside his transfigured sister, both leaving the sundae half-eaten. The proprietor quickly moved to their table, an annoyed look on his face at the half-eaten remains, until he picked up and saw what had been left on one of the napkins. His eyes going wide, he dropped everything and went around whispering to certain people, while at the same time locking everything down and pretty much closing the place up for the day.

A few people raced out of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and down to a few other shops along Diagon Alley. Within five minutes of the blond couple leaving the Parlor, almost every single shop, store, and vendor within Diagon Alley was closed up, including a number of places on Knockturn Alley. Even Gringotts had pulled in it's guards and shut the door. Not locked, but shut.

Within ten minutes, the only people walking the Alley were either disguised Death Eaters, and at least three teams of Aurors. And one young woman who stood like a queen in her court, mistress of all around her. Without trepidation, nor hesitation, she walked right up to one of the teams of Aurors and spoke to them in a clear, crisp, and upper class accent.

"Good day to you Aurors. Good day indeed, it seems, which as I've heard the gossip around the Alley, Voldemort would agree. I'd heard that Voldemort has been most generous and compassionate of late. It was said," she walked past the Aurors and right in front of a gathering group of 'undercover' Death Eaters, "that it has been several hours even, since Voldemort last killed one of his followers for failing him yet again. Ah, Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort."

They all felt the wards go up. Anti-Apparition, anti-Portkey, and a more complex one that sealed up the entrance as well as stopped anyone from using a broom to fly out either. The clearly Pure blood witch merely grinned sadistically at the forces arrayed before her, even as they raised wands to curse her out of existence.

Not bothering with a seamless transfiguration, as she felt she'd need to save her energy, yet also the smoke from the spell would mask her change and give her some cover to get away in. After all, your standard Animagus did not explode with white smoke every time they changed. Usually it was a pop or a gradual morph. Therefore, they wouldn't know what happened to her, and looking at a mouse running the opposite way would be the last thing in their heads at that point.

Several curses shot into the cloud of smoke, but thankfully none of them were aimed at the ground, so were no where close to hitting Ginny as she fled back to the entrance. Harry was the only one of them that could teleport instead of Apparate, which meant he was the only one that could get them out of there so long as the wards were up. But Harry had other things to do.

"Well, well, well," his voice rang out across the Alley, bringing all those within it's walls to high alert. "What do we have here? Seems the trash man forgot to visit this week, just look at all the _scum_ littering Diagon Alley. Makes Knockturn Alley seem pristine in comparison, if you ask me."

The amassed forces of Death Eaters and 'Aurors' (though none of them were light wizards and the rest were paid off in some way, so it really doesn't matter) had been looking up, down and all around the Alley, until finally one of them screamed a warning and pointed out the source of the echoing voice. They all turned to face their antagonist, wands raised and ready to unleash a fury spells and curses.

Harry Potter stood before all of them, actually standing on the top of the 'wall' that was the entrance to the Alley behind the Leaky Cauldron. Some of them wondered how he could do that with the wards in place, until they realized the wards only stopped people from flying out of the alley, or going out the entrance... not standing on top of it.

"Now," Harry continued his monologue, seemingly not caring that he had over thirty wands pointed at his head, "some of you might be thinking, gloating really, to yourselves that you've finally caught me, that the Dark Lord **_VOLDEMORT!!_** will reward you for finally capturing/killing me. That you've got me trapped, that you have me completely cornered with no way to escape, no possible hope for leaving here alive. Well... I almost hate to burst your bubble. Note: I said almost."

He grinned sadistically and pulled out his wand, it's tip glowing a fiery orange/red. "Now forgive me, but I have always wanted to say this; You may think that _I'm_ trapped here with all of _you_, but actually, _you're_ the ones that are trapped in here with **_me_**!" Thus began what soon became known as the '_Alley Slaughter_.'

"_AVADA KEDAVRA_!!" came the simultaneous casting from over half the gathered crowd. It would have been devastating, and there would have been no way for Harry to possibly defend against that many curses. Except that he wasn't there by the time they hit. Instead flying on to the space behind where he'd been, and hitting the wards and protections set up around the wizard marketplace.

Amazingly, even under 30 direct hits by the Avada Kedavra, the wards around Diagon Alley barely flickered. Growling, the fifty plus wizards spread out, all of them looking for Harry Potter and planning on cursing him into oblivion. Some shot out at the slightest hint of movement, causing a few "friendly fire" incidents, but nothing lethal. Unfortunately.

Finally, Harry appeared before the mob once more, this time standing on the roof of Gringotts. Before somebody did something stupid though, the cooler and more history-inclined heads quickly reminded those that fell asleep in Binns class from the first day and didn't even bother learning anything, that the last thing Voldemort and the "new" Ministry needed was yet _another_ Goblin Rebellion, caused by a few curses cast at their bank on Diagon Alley.

Harry knew he was pushing his luck. He should have taken the others and left a while ago, leaving them with the knowledge that he could get to them at any time and they couldn't do a thing to stop him. However, he'd been itching for a fight ever since he'd been forced to call a stalemate at the Burrow a month ago, and the skirmishes taking out a few Death Eaters a night weren't fulfilling in the slightest anymore.

Not that Harry really got off on violence or anything like that, but when you're used to activity and the feeling of accomplishment and progress, having all that come to a screeching, agonizingly slow crawl was maddening to him. So, he decided to scratch his itch.

"Tell you lot what for," he shouted out to them from his perch on top of Gringotts. "The security wards that just went up a few minutes ago, they stay up. But if any of you can find your way out of here within the next hour, you get to leave. Rest of you, well..."

Suddenly, Harry's aura exploded across the Alley, charging the atmosphere, making it hot and heavy, while at the same time a pressure wave traveled out from his location, knocking some off their feet and to the ground as Harry cut loose with a lot of magic just to intimidate them. "... **_YOU CAN TRY AND SURVIVE FOR THE NEXT SIXTY MINUTES!_**"

An eyeblink later, Harry vanished, yet the charged atmosphere of the Alley remained, telling the Dark Wizard enforcers that danger was still present, and Potter's threat was very real. Then the screams started.

Knowing that his tactics had to change with the strategy, Harry held off on his flashy Battle Magic spells, as well as using clones. This time, he had to evoke a sense of terror amongst the government terrorists, so that limited him, yet again, to hit-and-run spells. It also meant a lot of running, so of course his very first spell was Lightning Shoes, advancing it up to Thunder Claps when needed. All the same, it kept him out of the Death Eater's sights so they couldn't curse him, and when they did catch sight of him, it was only a streak of movement out of the corner of their eyes, which of course had them jumping all over the place.

First objective, separate the lambs from the sheep. Using his mage sight, he checked everyone's auras. Surprisingly, only ten of the Aurors present had and lack of darkness to them. They were also, thankfully, clustered together at the fringe of the gathering, staying near the entrance.

Picking up a fist full of pebbles, he stepped back into the shadows, going to the very edge of the Alley where the wards were, and then extended his magic senses, by briefly meditating, into the wards and "adjusted" them so that a set kind of PortKey would be allowed to exit the Alley. He then changed all of the pebbles in his hand into that kind of PortKey and sped his way back to the gathering.

One Death Eater saw him emerge from the darkness and started to scream a warning and a call for everyone to approach, only for it to turn into a scream of terror as Harry grabbed him and threw him back into the darkness... and then up into the sky, where he flew through the wards... twice.

They'd all heard the scream, but it didn't really get to them until the ward-burned corpse landed, quite dead, in the midst of all of them in the middle of the Alley. A sinister voice echoed from every shadowy corner, "**_For those of you who did not think I had it in me to make good on my threats..._**"

In a flash, Harry, aura raging around him, swept down and threw his fist forward while he shouted the rest, "**_...I ALWAYS KEEP MY PROMISES DEATH EATER SCUM!!_**" The glowing pebbles flew in blazing streaks through the air, each striking a specific individual in the crowd, who vanished with a flash of light, a puff of smoke, and the girly man scream you always hear on TV when the minions fall to their death. Then he was gone and the remaining Dark Wizards feared for their lives, as the majority knew that those that had just vanished were the closest thing to Light Wizards left among the Auror ranks, although most of them would say they were a mid-gray in their opinion.

Some tried to Disapparate, and were unpleasantly reminded that Anti-Apparition wards had been put in place around the Alley. Those with more experience, and unfortunately darker auras, soon cooled their heads and brought the rest under control and organized the crowd into something that might give Harry some trouble. Until he swooped down from a different place and shot a few dozen fireballs into their midst and was gone before anybody could even lift their wand to do anything about it.

One of them got rather impatient and shouted out suddenly, "Come out and fight like a wizard, Potter!"

"OK, I'll do that if you stand there and die like a piece of shit," came the harsh reply from directly above them. They all looked up as one, and immediately wished they hadn't as they finally saw Harry flying there above them, only with a magical attack already prepped, and released the moment they looked up.

"_EMERALD CYCLONE!_" he cast down his arms and a solid mass of green-tinted wind sliced down and covered the lot of them. From a distance it was just wind, but inside the cyclone, the Death Eaters were finding out first hand that Harry's spell had formed the air into cutting blades of air and it was quickly tearing them apart, literally.

By the time it was over, Harry had disappeared again, but the remaining Death Eaters, those that were in any shape for anything besides St. Mungo's and a casket, or a bucket really, still were not in very good shape. They were also pissing scared.

"This is crazy! We've gotta get outta here!" someone screamed.

"Potter was just supposed to be a punk kid! How did he get this powerful?!" another yelled.

"Bloody insane to stay here! We're all gonna be killed at this rate! Take down the wards!"

"ENOUGH!!" a louder voice shouted over the rest. This, of course, was the leader of the group. Harry, from his hiding spot, smirked, as he recognized none other than Anton Dolohov, one of the Inner Circle to boot.

"Are you lot a bunch of pathetic mudbloods, or are you WIZARDS?! He's only one punk kid, that happened to learn a few new spells! So what? All of us have got years experience on this _boy_ and he hasn't even graduated school yet! Now _find him and KILL HIM!!_" Dolohov roused them.

Right until a lightning bolt struck him dead and fried him to ash right in front of their eyes.

"Have to find me first, bozos!" Harry's voice echoed throughout the alley.

Meanwhile, as the Death Eaters were getting terrorized, Harry began the final phase of the plan, now that he'd had his fun and managed to get them all thoroughly afraid of him, it was time to take it to the next level, and turn himself from the symbol of hope and light into a true legend.

"**_Blood Copy Helix!_**" Creating a few quick clones, actual physical, albeit magically-created, copies of himself, Harry placed each of them at different points in the Alley, and then joined his friends near the entrance.

Taking a moment to gather his magic, as this would take a lot, although now he had magic to spare and then some, Harry's eyes snapped open as he, and his clones, all declared, "_GATE: OPEN!_"

Simultaneously, in front of him and each of his clones, a man-sized version of his Gate appeared, the twin emerald-green rings of energy mirrored in their eyes as in front of them. Then, he summoned the dragons; "**_Hunter Dragons!_**"

His friends looked at him, surprised, as they had been expecting him to summon the same Elemental Dragons they'd seen him summon before. They were even more surprised when a gray and silver dragon began to emerge from the open Gate. It was about the size of a large boar hound, or jungle cat. It had sharp claws and a spiked whip-like tail and four wings, two smaller ones coming out of his head and then the two main wings coming from the back of it's torso. It also had a very large chin that they only realized afterwards was instead an inverted, and razor sharp, horn. It's lethal red eyes glanced at Harry and his his friends (and clones), only once before seeming to grin and the thirteen summoned dragons turned their attention to the Death Eaters waiting, cowering actually, in front of them.

"Well," Harry smugly crossed his arms as he watched the carnage begin, "All in all, not bad for a days work, wouldn't you say? Let's head back."

"Right," Hermione mumbled, looking rather green as she turned away from the Alley.

"Don't you have to stay here, for the dragons I mean, Harry?" Ron asked. They stepped out into the open, Harry dividing his attention between the carnage, disabling the wards, focusing his energies to teleport them all, and Ron's question.

"Nah," he shook his head, "They'll go back when they feel like it. I only summon Hunter Dragons when I need one of two things. To track a scent, in which case I bring a lot of meat ahead of time, or for the same reason somebody would keep a school of piranhas in a pond. After they get finished with this lot, provided that no more Death Eaters show up, they'll go back on their own."

"Ah, good, that's good," Ron mumbled, not really understanding, and not sure he wanted to either.

It happened so fast. And as fast and as good as Harry had become, he could still be surprised.

"Potter!" a Death Eater had gotten away from the pack of Hunter Dragons, though not without cost seeing how torn up he was. Harry spun around, a spell pattern forming in his mind, but too slow and too disorganized to truly form. "Sectumsempra!"

A jet of purple light shot out, aimed right at Harry's heart. Of course it would be simple to either block or dodge the spell. For him that is.

"Harry!" Ginny yelled and tackled him to the ground before he could do anything about it. This action, unfortunately, only succeeded in putting her into the path of the spell at the exact moment it hit.

"GINNY!" he screamed, catching her as she fell, and witnessed as blood spurted from her nose, mouth, and even her ears and eyes.

Everything froze in that moment, the air stopped, the fighting and killing stopped, and the magic stopped, seeming to gasp in shock at this event. Then it rushed forward at an adrenaline pace all at once.

Harry's eyes squinted shut, tearing up before snapping open, _blazing_ with emerald green light. He released a primal scream as a wave of pure force atomized the Death Eater, and then went on to do the same to nearly everything behind the destroyed wizard, even buildings, plants, other Death Eaters, until it hit the wards, and they fell instantly as it exploded and caused massive property damage. The Hunter Dragons, seeing that even though there was still prey left, it was no longer a good idea to stick around, all left at once.

His rage spent, Harry focused his remaining energies and power on saving his girlfriend's life, and immediately teleported himself, her and the others back to Grimmauld Place, where began the fight for Ginny Weasley's life.


	12. Deathly Hallows

Title: Harry Potter: Four In One

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe. Tamora Pierce is the awesome author of the "Circle of Magic" books that 'Mage-Harry' is taken from, and of course I don't own Winding Circle nor the concepts of Academic and Ambient Magic. Any future Spy-Magic you might see is going to be exactly like the Battle Magic so far, an amalgamation of numerous sources that might not even be 'magic' on their own, but have been twisted in such a way by me. You have been warned.

Summary: A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Mage, and Spy.

AN: Past this Chapter here, things are going to change for this story. Can't yet say how much or in exactly which way, but for starters, this is the last time I'll put the Disclaimer at the head of the chapter. Other changes will be forthcoming and I'll either announce on my Author's Page, or I will put a very brief "AN" at the head of the appropriate chapter.

AN2: I am going to go the Round Robin way of things here; I plan on having Harry and Friends leave their universe through a unique method of travel that will guarantee their return to the exact moment they left so that they might face this newly discovered threat with adequate experience and training. Experience for Harry. Training and experience for the others. Hey, if I'm going to do a Mary-Sue HP Fanfic, I might as well do it right, right?

AN3: My point is, I would like to cross Harry and group here with already established, meaning 'written by other authors', HP alternate universes, or HPAUs. If you like this story, and have no objection to it, please contact me at and let me know if you're interested in having a Super-Harry come by your universe or not! I'll probably be approaching quite a few people on my own to request the opportunity to do the same.

Story:

_12 Grimmald Place_

_A few minutes later_

Harry was as close to a panic as he'd ever been as he carried Ginny up the stairs. Hermione and Ron were just as distraught, but thankfully they listened to him when he told them to remain downstairs. He quickly took Ginny to her room and laid her down on her bed. She was still conscious, but could not communicate, though her eyes spoke of confusion, fear, and pain.

"Don't worry Ginny," he whispered has he brushed back her hair from her face, "I'll take care of you."

Then he silently opened his Gate, the only sign being the rings appearing around his pupils. He focused his magic and cast a spell. The one spell that he was warned to not use casually, as besides using a whole lot of magic and power, it could be manipulated into a very dark spell by those that knew how.

"**_Full Elements: Full Life Regeneration: CURAGA!_**" a series of lights flew over and through Ginny's body, and as this happened her condition remarkably improved. Harry kept up the magic and the lights continued until the blood had disappeared and it was as if Ginny had never been cursed in the first place.

A minute later, she was as good as new, and Harry cut off the spell, nearly collapsing onto her as the drain in his energy finally hit him. So much for going back out tonight, he idly thought to himself as he picked himself up and fell into a nearby chair. Ginny, seeing this, immediately sat up, worry etched on her face. She winced a bit as she sat up.

"Careful," Harry said to her, sounding as tired as he looked, "I healed the damage, but the trauma can still be felt. Just give yourself a couple minutes and you should be fine."

"Thank you," she whispered. Then the famous Weasley temper suddenly flared. "You saved my life, and I love you for it Harry, but look at you! What did you just do? I'll bet you almost killed yourself just trying to save me, didn't you?"

"Then we're even," he groaned, adjusting his position a bit. "I could have handled that curse just fine, maybe even deflected it right back at the bastard. Instead, you, rather foolishly, threw yourself into what was obviously a lethal curse, almost killing yourself just trying to save me, didn't you?"

"Oh, don't you dare turn my own words against me," she warned him.

"Then _don't_ make me have to do it again!" he shouted back. Just as suddenly, all energy seemed to leave him and it was all he could do to stay in the chair and not slump exhausted to the floor. "I couldn't stand it if you did, Ginny. I really don't think I could stand it. This time was bad enough."

"Oh Harry," Ginny whispered.

"I'm not going to go all chivalrously bigoted on you or anything," he assured her. "I am training you how to use your magic to fight, after all. Still... I would appreciate it if you would not underestimate me while overestimating yourself in the future."

"That doesn't sound like you," she pointed out.

"One of my other selves, the Mage that was trained in a place called Winding Circle, I grew up around strong women, and considered two of them to be surrogate mothers almost, and another three were like sisters to me, and they could all equally kick my arse without even trying. Didn't stop me from trying to do what you did for them on more than one occasion, especially when I didn't have to. They gave me the same lecture I just spouted at you. 'Cept for that chivalrous bigot stuff, that was all me."

Ginny giggled again. Then she got up and helped him to his feet. "Come on, you're beat. Especially after everything that happened today. I'll help you to bed, then go assure my brother and Hermione that I'm all right. Is there anything I can get for you? Anything I can... do for you?"

Harry chuckled, but even then he sounded exhausted. "I believe we discussed that already. As for anything else, Kreacher can get me whatever else I might need. He's been abandoned for quite long enough if you ask me. If Ron gives you any trouble, get him to practice his forms a bit more. Nobody leaves. We stirred up the hornet's nest quite a lot, and it's going to be a few days before everything calms back down. Get as much rest as you all can. Also, you might want to eat something yourself, and then hit the sack. Speaking from personal experience with that spell, healing can take a lot out of you."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said. They walked up the next flight of stairs and then into Harry's room, where he quickly collapsed upon the bed. Ginny almost decided to help him with getting into his pajamas, except that every time she tried to remove his clothes, he woke up just enough to glare at her and get her to leave. With a sigh, she finally left and made her way downstairs, where a frantic Hermione and a pacing Ron were overjoyed to see her up and walking.

"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed. "You're all right! You're alive! You're not dead!" He was shouting all this while jumping up and down around her while hugging her neck at the same time.

"And he's normally only like this on his birthday," the red-haired girl dryly commented to Hermione.

"What happened? What did Harry do? Are you really all right?" a frantic Hermione blurted out.

"I'm fine," Ginny assured her friend while trying to calm her brother down. "As for what happened, well, obviously, I got cursed by a Death Eater, and Harry healed me. He's upstairs resting, largely because the spell he had to use to sa...uh, heal me took a lot out of him. Anyway, I'm starving, so I'm going to get something to eat. Care to join me, that way I can answer any other questions you've got, Hermione."

With a grin at the knowledge she had both of them hooked, she walked off towards the kitchen and quickly had Kreacher cooking up a small feast for her. Between her and Ron, it was gone within half an hour. Tops. During which, she answered Hermione's questions, which largely concerned the spell Harry used to heal her, the curse that had almost killed her, and the consequences of each. An hour later, all three were tired and it was early evening. Without any more questions, all three went up to bed and immediately fell asleep.

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_Three days later_

_Attic/Training Room_

Ron lunged forward, throwing a punch straight at Hermione's face. She ducked to the side, her arm looping up and deflecting his arm with an open palm, right before flowing around him and slapping her other palm against his underside and slipping behind him. He did not hesitate to jump up in an incredibly acrobatic maneuver and twirled over her head and then behind her, where he struck at her open back, only for her to pull off a similar jump at the last second. She moved in, flowing from position to position, fists and flat palms striking against the redhead. He endured, using solid blocks or straightforward deflects to counter, finally using a foot slide to trip her up just enough to get her to retreat once more.

On the other side of the room, Harry and Ginny were having a fight of their own. Harry was faster, taller, stronger, and tougher, able to endure everything they could throw at him and then some. Ginny was learning all four styles equally and progressing at a rate that reminded Harry of another person's progress. His own. Still, she only started learning martial arts a little under a month ago, so while she was learning quickly, she had no hope of a chance against Harry in the slightest.

Another few minutes sparring, until Ginny finally collapsed into exhaustion, and Ron and Hermione were still fighting each other to a standstill at every move. Harry called for a break, much to the others relief.

"All right, I think that's enough sparring for today. Cool down time. You guys run through your katas, you should know them well enough to do them on your own now. I'm going to go get you some water. Be back soon. And I better find you cooling down when I get back!" He told them as he stepped down the stairs and further down to the kitchen.

"Couldn't he just have made Kreacher get them for us?" Ron asked.

"Ron!" Hermione was outraged.

"I mean, I... he..." Ron panicked before taking a breath and continuing, "I mean, Harry's been all about making Kreacher feel wanted and needed again, and the only way to do that with a House Elf is to order them around. So... since Harry's been asking Kreacher to do stuff like getting us refreshments so far, why is he suddenly doing it himself?"

"Probably because he's doing something else, and he wants us occupied while he does it," Ginny hypothesized as she got into position to begin her katas. "And if it was to go out and fry some Death Eaters, he would have told us. Probably has to do with our training. Now, are you two going to get started, or what?"

Frustrated at the lack of answers, but having nothing else to do, the three turned their attention to their katas and slowly and methodically moved through each of the motions with great focus. They got so into it that time passed without them even noticing and it seemed as if he'd only just left when they finally noticed Harry standing there watching them, ice cold water bottles waiting for them, and an old book in his hands.

"Harry, that's my gift from Dumbledore!" Hermione cried after she'd drained half her bottle in one gulp.

"Yep," he nodded. "Found something interesting in it too. Turn to the story about the Three Brothers. Read it and then tell me if you realize anything."

Confused, but curious, Hermione accepted the book and turned to the mentioned story within the storybook and read through it in less than five minutes. Then she went back and read through it a second and a third time. On the third, she spent a minute looking at the first page of the story, specifically the top of it where a familiar triangular eye was etched in pen.

"I don't understand, Harry, what is it you wanted me to figure out?" Hermione said, on the edge of tears.

In reply, he merely brought out his Invisibility cloak, and from under his shirt he pulled out the mokeskin pouch Hagrid had given him, and pulled out the stone that had come from the Snitch. Then he pulled out a very, very familiar wand, made out of elder wood; Dumbledore's wand. Hermione's eyes went wide.

"No," she gasped. "No. No. No, it... it's just not possible. No, it... it can't be... can it?"

"Hermione, I was split into four separate beings by a Time Wizard who then took three of me to alternate realities and pocket dimensions where each of them received a highly diversified magical education, and then fused me back together on my 17th birthday. I survived the Killing Curse when I was a _baby_, killed a 60-foot _basilisk_ when I was 12, and none of that is counting all the things we all saw in the Department of Mysteries. Is it really hard to believe that three items in a wizard fairy tale, are actually real?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ron, who'd been watching on silently so far, shouted. "The Tale of the Three Brothers? That's the one where Death comes for three brothers and they defeat Death only for it to trick them into accepting three gifts from Death that result in their own deaths anyway... right?"

"Not exactly, but close enough," Hermione responded.

"So, you're saying the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Cloak of Invisibility are real? And that... these are... them?" Ginny questioned, pointing at the three magical artifacts.

"Yep," Harry nodded.

"But... how?" Hermione wanted to know.

"Well, fairy tales are just folklore that somebody just finally decided to put down on paper and print into books, right? So, what if the Tale of the Three Brothers was a bit of folklore, three wizards that either crafted these or were given them some time before even the Founders of Hogwarts lived, maybe even before Merlin! Then it got turned into a bedtime story and told and retold so many times that it became more fiction than reality. Besides, I did some extra research, and do you know how many 'unbeatable wands' are found throughout history?"

"Dozens, if not outright hundreds," Hermione answered. "But you can't mean that..."

Harry shrugged. "There are historical documents, first-hand accounts and so forth of the unbeatable wand, given dozens of different names. But never once did one unbeatable wand face another, only the passage of one Dark Wizard after another, using it and then losing it. It said so in the story, the Elder Wand was stolen by a thief."

"But the stone, the cloak, neither of them can be real!" Hermione protested.

"Well, in the story, it was never said what happened to either. Only that the second brother killed himself, not what he did with the stone, nor what happened to it. But with the Cloak..."

"The youngest brother gave it to his son!" she exclaimed, finally catching on. "Your father's Invisibility Cloak! And... it probably could have been passed down through your family for ages, from father to son!"

"Bingo," Harry grinned.

"And... what does this mean exactly?" Ron asked. "I mean, it's wicked and everything. And now that I think about it... Don't you realize he's right? I've got so used to Harry's Cloak and how good it is, I never stopped to think. I've never heard of one like Harry's. It's infallible. We've never been spotted under it!"

"Of course not!" Hermione exclaimed, "we're invisible when we're under it, Ron!"

"It's never occurred to me before, but I've heard stuff about charms wearing off cloaks when they get old, or them being ripped apart by spells so they've got holes in them. Harry's was owned by his dad, so it's not exactly new, is it, but it's just... perfect!"

"He's right, I've heard the same things," Ginny agreed.

"But... the _stone_? Come on!"

"Well," Harry shrugged, "Only one way to find out. With that, he flipped the stone over three times in his hand and said aloud, "Dumbledore."

Instantly, with no transition or special effect at all, the ghost of Albus Dumbledore stood among them. Like all ghosts they were familiar with, he had no color and was translucent to their eyes. Still, all four of them swore that his eyes still sparkled as they always had in life.

"Ah, Harry. You figured this out much sooner than I had anticipated. Congratulations are in order, I do believe," he said with a grim smile.

"So this is the Resurrection Stone of the story?" Harry held it up.

Dumbledore nodded his head sadly. "How much do you know?"

"That the things you left me and Hermione in your will permitted me to have control and possession of these magical artifacts, not to mention your wand, that I claimed possession of through a minor duel with Malfoy. The book contains the story that tells us what they are, you hid the stone in my Snitch, and you anticipated that I wouldn't be able to figure this out until Voldemort had me cornered and I would figure I was about to die. From that I can gleam several strategies, but the one that fits best with my experience with you is that you intended for Voldemort to eventually steal your wand from you grave and then use it in a duel with me, with me confronting and defeating Malfoy before then, so that when we dueled, in the ultimate irony, the ultimate wand that wins all duels for its master, which Voldemort coveted so much, would wind up killing him when he tried to kill me. Rather poor planning if you ask me."

"I am so sorry, Harry."

Harry shrugged. "Not to worry. Mostly I just wanted to confirm if this was the Resurrection Stone from the story or not. But since you're here... time for some explanations old man."

"Harry!" Hermione admonished him. "I'm sorry, Professor Dumbledore. It's been a trying month."

"It's quite all right, Miss Granger," Dumbledore assured her. "All things considered, it's expected even. So, Harry, what, exactly, is it you would like me to explain?"

Harry actually took a moment to think over that question. He'd, actually, already figured out most of what Dumbledore's previous plan and thinking had been; protect him from Death Eaters looking to avenge their fallen master by sending him to the Dursleys where he would be protected from magical harm, give him all the information he would need to understand and perhaps even anticipate Voldemort's own plans, give him the tools to win against Voldemort in the form of these magical artifacts, while giving him enough time, so to speak, to figure it all out while Voldemort more or less dug his own grave. The overall plan, though, had to be one of the most simplistic uses of dramatic irony that he'd ever heard of.

Voldemort didn't know that wands, being magic-made, had somewhat of a basic intelligence. Sort of a mixture of the creature that provided the main ingredient and the wizard that was most compatible with the wand, though one thing was prevalent in all wands. If their master/wielder was ever defeated, defeat being classified as being "disarmed" rather than just dead, then the one that defeated said master became the wand's new master. It actually used to be more of a code of honor than anything else, but after a few hundred years, the code became magical law and law became a basic instinct that was ingrained into every wand ever made, no matter who made it.

Voldemort might know of this "magical law" although given his warped sense of reality he would view it more as the other person had to be killed to defeat them. And he currently believed that Snape had killed Dumbledore, and thus was the current master of the Elder Wand. He didn't know Draco had picked up Dumbledore's wand after stunning him atop the tower, thus disarming and easily defeating him. He also didn't know that just over a week ago, he'd gone to Malfoy Manor with the Elder Wand, put it in Draco's hand, and then dueled him ten times in a row, losing only the first time and disarming Malfoy in various other ways until he was sure the wand recognized him as it's new master. Then he'd stunned and erased Draco's memories and left.

Therefore, the plan was to have Voldemort try and use the Elder Wand and when he next dueled against Harry, the wand would backfire on him, winning the duel for it's master; Harry Potter.

No, the plan was simplistic, and incredibly obvious once you had all the facts, which Harry nearly did. To be honest, he really only had three questions.

"What are these things?" he asked.

Dumbledore smiled, his translucent eyes twinkling as they had in life. "They are called the Deathly Hallows. I had looked for them in my youth, but never in all my years did I ever expect to see them all together like this. I am almost ashamed to admit, I was quite a fool back then, as I did not seek them out for their historic value, but for the power they offered."

"Yeah, we know already," Harry interrupted, drawing a surprised look from the specter.

"Rita Skeeter released the 'Unbiased Biography of Albus Dumbledore'," he answered the look. "I have to admit, given the way things turned out, I didn't really expect you and Grindelwald to have been the best of friends when you were both in school."

"Yes, well..."

"Though I would imagine that at some point you revised your dream of conquering the world to 'put muggles in their place' and to ensure that the world was controlled by the superior race, wizards and witches?"

The children had never seen Dumbledore look so... ashamed or defeated before.

Harry just shrugged, "Like I said, we already knew, and like you said, you were a kid, you made mistakes, and you learned from them. So, they're called the Deathly Hallows. I can see why, given the story that cropped up around their supposed creation. Next question; why test me?"

"Harry?" Hermione spoke up, still stunned by the previous revelation, but her friend's raw emotion that was put into that question worried her.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Harry," Dumbledore looked utterly defeated now.

"Ron kind of admitted it that summer I spent at the Burrow. You asked Molly Weasley to help me through the barrier. Given their honest reactions, which even now I have to admit were either truly honest, or that woman is the best god damned actress in the entire universe, none of the Weasleys there really knew who I was until Fred and George blurted it out. So, I am forced to surmise that you merely sent her a letter saying that there was a muggle-raised First Year that would be coming through the gateway that year. After all, Platform 9 ¾ does have a Floo connection and that is the way most wizard families get onto the Platform."

"Professor McGonagall, after she took me and my parents shopping in Diagon Alley, explained exactly how to get onto the Platform," Hermione pointed out.

He turned to face her and replied, deadpan, "Hagrid took me shopping in Diagon Alley."

"Ah," Hermione's face lit up with understanding.

"Then we have my First Year at Hogwarts," Harry continued speaking to Dumbledore's ghost. "Admittedly, Quirrell, being a certified Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be able to learn and know Occlumency to a degree of keeping both you and Snape out, so with Riddle, literally, in his head and protecting him from your Legilimency, you wouldn't immediately know. But then we have the so-called protections of the Sorcerer's Stone. One of which was a Troll, provided by Professor Quirrell, correct? The Troll on Halloween? And he just screamed and fainted? Not to mention him trying to kill me. Snape even knew he was trying to kill me and was casting the counter-curse at the same time!"

"Second Year!" Harry was pacing by now. "An eleven-year-old First year witch is not capable in the slightest of learning Occlumency! I know for a fact that Snape was using the silent version of Legilimency on every student in every Potions class, especially on the first day! How could he not know about the Horcrux! After the chickens, and then the first attacks, and then that mess with Hagrid! Three drops of Veritaserum would have been MORE than enough to clear Hagrid's name! And don't even get me _started_ on Sirius!"

He paced a couple more times before rounding on the dead Headmaster. "WHY did you test me?!"

"To make sure you weren't Voldemort," came the blunt reply.

Startled, Harry took a step back, not having expected that answer.

"Of course after the Sorting Ceremony, that was all the proof I needed that you weren't. Everything that came later... well, the traps were not the only defense on the Stone, as you know Harry. The one thing that Voldemort did see and you did not, were the Alarm wards placed in each room. Voldemort quite easily by-passed those and the traps, traps that any group of determined First Years could get through. You, however, immediately set off all the alarms the moment you stepped into Professor Flitwick's test, which immediately prompted me to turn around and fly back to Hogwarts with the utmost urgency."

"Everything that came after... I'm sorry to admit was only partially my doing. I took advantage of the circumstances as they happened, giving you the clues to see if you could piece it all together yourself, in each circumstance. Once Voldemort returned, however, I knew that there was no more room for preparing you. So I then began working on what you called my plan to defeat Voldemort."

"Why did you hold back in your fight with him?" Harry asked his final question. When the ghost opened his mouth to answer, Harry held up the Elder Wand, arching an eyebrow as though accusing.

The ghost of Dumbledore let out an ethereal sigh and slumped. "I didn't hold back Harry. I merely refused to end another's life. I... I attempted to save you from knowing what that is like. My plan may have been simplistic and costly, Harry, but at the least it would have prevented you from becoming a murderer, as you had feared when you first heard the prophecy for yourself."

"Speaking of which..."

Seeing where that was going, Dumbledore immediately shook his head, "No. I did not once let the thought of keeping or breaking the prophecy influence me in the least against Voldemort in my duel with him. As I said, I was attempting to subdue him so that he might be captured. I... I refused to kill him."

Harry took a deep breath and let it out as a slow sigh.

"That was stupid," he finally said, drawing gasps from his friends, as he'd said it straight to the former Headmaster's face. "At the time he was on the brink of starting another war. He was at the very heart of the Wizarding government, inside the Ministry of Magic, his minions walking the halls of the Department of Mysteries, causing equal amounts of destruction, harm, and damage. He was fighting you with lethal curses, trying to kill both you, me, my friends, and anyone else in the area. Anyone else in the world would have pulled the gloves off and given half the chance, I know many would have, to borrow a phrase, pulled the trigger on his ugly mug! But."

He sighed again and continued, "But, you stuck to your convictions, and I can respect that. Even though I don't agree with _many_ of your choices, you did them with the best of intentions and acted on as much information as you had at the time. So, for what it's worth... I forgive you for any wrongs done between us. Which includes leaving me with the Dursley's growing up."

"Thank you," Dumbledore started to say, but Harry waved his hand.

"You can go now. I have all the information that I need from you." He flipped the stone once more and the ghost faded away.

"Harry... I can't believe you just did that," Hermione was in shock.

"He deserved worse," came the tight reply.

"He certainly didn't deserve your forgiveness for leaving you at the Dursley's!" Ginny added.

Harry smirked and shrugged. Like a dog shaking water out of it's fur, Harry shed his foul mood and turned around to face them. "All right, as you all know, you passed the test on your skill with the Transform spell with flying colors. And I did promise to teach you all a new battle spell once you had mastered this one."

"YES!" Ron crowed.

"However, you still haven't mastered it just yet," Harry enjoyed Ron's crestfallen expression at his statement. "You've mastered self-transfiguration and animal transfiguration. There is, however, still object transfiguration. Specifically, changing into stationary objects, like furniture, books, weapons, tools, pieces of art, things like that."

"But how...?" Hermione started to ask.

"Same three hand-seals, only this time you're focusing on a physical object rather than a living thing. Same basic rules as animal transfiguration. One time change. Once you're changed, you're stuck until either you exert the magic to change forms once more, or until someone else comes along to reverse the spell. Few obvious differences though."

"Such as?" Ron asked. Everyone was kind of surprised that he wasn't already trying this out as he had with animal transfiguration.

"Obviously, you can't move around as you would in either human or animal form. There are also other differences, such as your perception. It's actually harder to explain, as you still have all of your senses, they're just... changed. Did any of you try and transform into an insect of any kind?"

"I did. Once," Ginny shuddered in revulsion.

"Well, as far as your senses go, it's a lot like that. Relearning how to see, hear, feel, and other things like that. It varies, depending on what you change into, but it's all still there. Once you can copy an object perfectly, then I can show you the trick I learned about how to change the spell so you can move even while a solid object, and apply other spells to your object-self as well."

"Wicked! What do we do?" Ron eagerly asked.

"You practice," Harry said with a smile. "Start with something you're familiar with. Don't worry, none of you are powerful enough that doing something by accident, or otherwise, is irreversible. So I'll change you back if it becomes obvious that you're stuck or something. Once you can master changing to various objects on your own, I'll show you the tricks."

"Well, how about you demonstrate it for us? Like you did before," Hermione requested.

Harry shrugged, formed the seals, and in a puff of white smoke, there was suddenly a chair sitting there. Another puff of smoke, the chair was replaced with a student's desk. Ten seconds after that, a large vase, another twenty count after that, a marble statue of Harry Potter, in the fashion of the Greek _Apollo_, nude, stood there. The girls stared unabashedly while Ron was looking confusedly back and forth between them and the statue. Suddenly the statue opened it's eyes, smirked at Ginny and winked at Hermione before reverted back to it's still form and after another puff of smoke, there stood Harry with a sly grin on his face.

"That's the basics. Practice until dinner time," he said, taking the Deathly Hallows with him as he left the attic. Hermione, Ginny, and Ron all stared at each other, the girls blushing slightly, but finally they just shrugged and got down to practicing.

Surprisingly, it seemed to be harder for them to change into solid objects than to change into animals or other people. They were at it until well after dinner time and not even Hermione or Ginny could actually do it.

_Ministry of Magic_

_Next Day_

_Evening_

Harry wasn't sure what he was even doing here. He'd promised that he wouldn't go out and face Death Eaters or whatnot alone anymore. But he wasn't exactly doing that, and in fact he was planning on not facing any Death Eaters, or anyone at all for that matter. The plan had, originally been, to just sneak in and see what all exactly the Ministry was up to under the new regime.

Of course that was before he found out that part of the new regime was that everyone worked late.

He would have wrapped himself up in the Invisibility Cloak (gets capital letters now that he knew it was one of the Deathly Hallows), save for two things; one that he didn't bring it as the Ministry was supposed to be empty at this time of night, and two, it was simpler for him to just turn himself invisible with a silent spell. The moment that he teleported in, thankfully when nobody was looking, and he saw a lot of people going around like it was your standard workday, he bit off a curse and triggered one of the cooler powers he'd developed as a magical spy; OSI. Opposite-Spectrum Invisibility.

Not from Battle Magic, and quite frankly way more advanced than anything Winding Circle had, not to mention the Ministry would expect wizard-based spells of invisibility such as disillusionment or standard invisibility cloaks. The OSI spell was designed for use by covert operatives under the principle of quantum mechanics that everything that exists, gives off, reflects, or generates energy that marks it's presence in the universe, or Space/Time Continuum as Einstein called it. What the spell does, it alters the caster's own molecules to switch from the spectrum of energy where everyone else can see and hear them to the exact quantum opposite so they could neither been seen _or_ heard by anyone in the normal spectrum of Space/Time.

Cool part was, even though Harry was now completely undetectable, even better than being under a mobile Fidelius Charm, he could still see and hear and even interact with the normal spectrum, IE everything around him, without any difficulty despite technically being of the opposite spectrum. He could still touch objects and people and such and they could feel him, they just couldn't see or hear him.

Slipping past security, and it being child's play to get past the wards and wand check, Harry made his way over to the elevator and started to figure out what all he could do here. He decided to start with his least favorite place in the world; the Department of Mysteries.

Imagine his surprise when he saw a line of people stretching the entire corridor and felt the telltale sensation of cold dread creeping in on his heart. Only this time, he had a lot more "bad" and "traumatic" stuff in his head since the last time he'd been in a Dementor's presence.

Hedwig, on Harry's shoulder clacked her beak angrily.

"Oh _hell no_!" Harry growled, drawing both of his wands. The Holly and Phoenix feather and the Elder wands together. Concentrating with lethal intensity upon the culmination of four lifetimes of happy memories, he cast with both wands.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!!"

Even though he was currently, and technically speaking, not in the same phase of existence as all those people and even the Dementors, magic itself crosses all barriers of Space/Time, so despite not being heard or seen, the twin Patroni came into being all the same. The one on the right was his standard Patronus; Prongs still, surprisingly, modeled after the animagus form of his deceased father. He had almost expected it to be a four-headed dragon or something else like that after all that he'd been through in the past few months.

The Patronus on the left, however, was the interesting one, as it had been cast with the Elder Wand. For starters, instead of silver, it was colored gold throughout. For another, it was not a ghostly collection of vapors in the shape of a stag. It was a real honest living breathing stag that was softly glowing gold, had solid gold antlers and shiny gold hooves. Oh, and it's eyes were a demonic looking red that made one think of death.

Despite being startled by this new appearance of his guardian he merely holstered the Elder Wand and pulled out his Staff. Just before he cast the Patronus spell again, he ordered, "Drive away every single Dementor that is in the area. Destroy them if possible, but drive them all away from here and from these people. EXPECTO PATRON—I!"

Harry wasn't really sure what he was doing, but he just wanted to see what would happen, with the differences between a staff and a wand, he had little doubt that it would be... interesting to say the least. He wasn't disappointed as, with the gold and silver stags leading the charge, an entire stampede poured from the gold cap of his staff, startling a lot of the people in the hallway, but bringing relief with them as all influences of the Dementors were erased in their wake.

"Probably should have brought the others, but like hell I'm going to let this go on for even one more minute," Harry said once the stampede had stopped coming from his staff. He quickly walked down the hall, following the line and growled when he saw it ending in the very same courtroom where he'd had his Fifth Year hearing on underage magic use.

Entering, he wasn't surprised to see none other than Delores Umbridge at the center of everything.

Well, needless as it is to say, he honestly couldn't be held responsible for what happened next.

After all, who in their right mind would be stupid enough to shoot the Cruciatus Curse at a mirror that bore their own reflection, and then keep it up until they gave themselves a heart attack?

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_Same Time_

"Has anybody seen Harry?" Hermione asked Ron and Ginny.

"No," they both said at the same time.

Startled that none of them knew where their friend, and more or less leader, was at the moment, they shared a look and then all together shouted, "KREACHER!"

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked the old house elf the moment he appeared.

"Master left for Ministry of Magic... to do... business, he said," Kreacher replied in that sly tone of voice, thankfully without the scorn he'd used when speaking to Hermione of late.

"Come on! We've got to—!" Hermione started to say.

"Got to what?" Harry asked from the open door, leaning against the door frame with arms crossed and a cocky smirk on his face.

"HARRY! Where have you been? I... we were getting worried sick about you?" she screeched.

"Really? But you only just found out I was gone," he replied.

"Mate, I thought we told you not to go off on your own anymore without us there as backup!" Ron told him. "What were you thinking, going to the Ministry of Magic like that?"

"Honestly couldn't say," Harry shrugged. "And technically, you told me not to go on anymore midnight raids saying the V-word to draw in Death Eaters, nothing about sneaking into the Ministry of Magic."

"So, what _did_ you do, if not take out a few more Death Eaters?" Ginny asked.

"Not sure, I haven't gotten back from the Ministry, yet," the now-revealed clone smiled cockily at them.

"Let's go," Ginny ordered this time.

_Ministry of Magic_

_Main Lobby_

The entire Ministry was in chaos when they flooed in. Given the time of night, even they expected the place to be nearly empty, if not completely so. After all, it had been just over a year ago when they'd broken into the Department of Mysteries.

Instead, people were screaming, people were running, and Dementors were fleeing, being chased by a herd of stag Patroni, a bright golden one that looked like a real stag leading the charge. Getting past the Security gate amidst the chaos was hardly worth the effort as all three, before flooing in, had transformed to look like known Aurors or Order Members. Ron, incidentally, had changed to look like an older Moody... if he had never been injured in his entire life, while Ginny and Hermione looked like Tonks and Professor McGonagall respectively, all three dressed in crimson Auror robes.

After seeing a screaming Dolores Umbridge, being hounded by the re-animated centaur statue and another couple of stag Patroni, bleeding from cuts on her hands reading "I will not be an UmBitch!" (the point of the exclamation being shaped like double-ring and the line a familiar-shaped lightning bolt), the three Battle-mages-in-training turned to face each other and acknowledged the person responsible for all of this, "Harry."

"What do you think could have set him off like this?" 'Tonks' asked them as they made their way to the stairs, where most of the exodus was originating from seeing as the elevators were out of order for the moment.

"Harry's never been one for pranks," 'McGonagall' argued. "The only time he ever broke the rules was so that he might help someone or stop... Riddle. But the only times that I've ever seen him be this... sadistic..."

"Were the times he thought somebody was in trouble, suffering, or in danger," 'Moody' finished the thought. "He damn near tortured Lockhart when it looked like Ginny was in trouble and the man was running instead of helping. He wanted to kill Wormtail when he found out, but wanted him to suffer more than die. Then there was the time... he told us how he chased Bellatrix and used the Cruciatus on her, remember? Not to mention how he was acting before that, when he thought Sirius was being tortured all because of him."

"Whatever he saw down here... it must have been terrible," 'Tonks' said. At the looks she received, she explained. "Whatever he had planned before coming here, it wasn't to do all this. It's too noisy, draws too much attention. He's been telling us to use hit-and-run tactics this entire time, since... well you know. Now, less than two days after Diagon Alley, he makes an assault on the Ministry itself? No, he probably came here for something small, a message to say he could strike at the heart any time he damn well pleased. But something else happened here, something he saw, something that he heard... It set him off in a big way."

"We need to find him," 'McGonagall' urgently whispered.

"Any suggestions on how?"

"I'll be showing you how to do that next," Harry said from right beside them, appearing out of thin air, Hedwig on his right shoulder.

"HARRY!" they all screamed, the girls/women going to hug him.

"What the bloody hell are you thinking here, mate?" 'Moody' hissed, looking around, they'd made it to the third floor by this point and was glad that it appeared, for the moment anyway, they were the only ones in the corridor.

"Well, Ginny had it right," Harry shrugged. "I only came here for some information, maybe leave a painted warning on the wall somewhere, put a few dungbombs in the Minister's office, that sort of thing. Then... I saw the line."

"Line?" Ginny/Tonks asked, concerned.

"They had lined up all of the 'Potential Undesirables' in the Department of Mysteries, had the Dementors there to keep everybody in line... There were children younger than school age in that line," he hissed. "Those that could 'prove blood purity' or to be more accurate could pay Umbitch enough bribes to give them a stamp of approval got to leave with their families. Everybody else? Azkaban. Muggleborns? Dementor's Kiss and body either killed or otherwise disposed of."

His three friends looked shocked and appalled at this information, but he wasn't done yet. "Of course I didn't know this at first. I was just looking around, saw the line, saw the Dementors, I reacted. Sure you saw the herd of Patroni I conjured, well that was the first thing I did, followed very shortly by getting the people out of here. Then I went in to confront Umbitch. Moment I let her see me, she shot the Cruciatus Curse at me. They're supposed to AK me on sight, you know? Anyway, I pulled out a mirror and she kept up the curse until she had a heart attack. Didn't kill her, unfortunately."

"Yeah, saw what you did to her, not bad work, mate. Twins would approve," Ron/Moody commented.

"Oh, that came after I revived her. Anyway, I don't exactly carry Veritaserum on me all the time, so I was forced to use other means of getting the information I required, and our former Headmistress was quite talkative after I demonstrated some of that for her."

"Harry..." Hermione/McGonagall whimpered.

He smiled and shook his head, "No, Hermione, I didn't torture her, although I do have to admit the temptation was there. One of the spells I learned from my spy days... uh... when I was 15, anyway, the spell is basically a truth spell, making the person or persons affected by it answer any question asked them with the full and unabridged truth, no matter what. Even keeping quiet or holding something back is not an option."

"And?" Ginny could tell that he was still holding something back himself.

"It's worse than I had ever feared," he told them, his expression going dark.

"The bodies, after being Kissed or killed... there's no physical evidence or actual proof, but Umbridge believed they were being sent off to Voldemort... and being turned into Inferi. Or Vampires. Or mind-controlled werewolves. Or... gods above, if there is a single Dark Creature that is born from the destruction or use of a dead wizard's body, he's using them to create an army that could march out over the entire world and nothing could stand in his way."

"Harry... what are you saying?" Hermione was confused.

"He's not stopping with the Ministry. I don't know if it's because I confronted him instead of running. I don't know if I just pushed him over the edge... But Riddle isn't going to sit back and rule Wizarding Britain and be satisfied with that. We already know how he plans on living forever. I've got the rest of his Horcruxes, except for the snake. Once that's gone, I can kill him free and clear, but... He's set up a contingency plan. He dies, his entire army marches out and it does not stop. I found the proof of his plan just before I came across you three here. Not proof of what happens to the bodies of the Undesirables, but proof that it is his plan. When this army of his reaches enough numbers that no matter who, what, or how many oppose him that it won't even matter, he's going to let it loose on the entire world. Not just the magical world. The whole world."

Hermione gasped, while the Weasleys just looked stunned. Wasn't much else they could do.

"And if that isn't bad enough, he's also made it so that the very moment that he dies, enough numbers or not, this... Dark Army is going to go out of control and start destroying everything there is. So if I kill him or not, there's still going to be a whole lot of damage done, if not the whole ball of wax going out the window," he told them.

"Well... we'll just have to stop this army first and then destroy him," Ron said, crossing his arms.

Harry shook his head. "Not enough time. Even if we contact the Order and I start training them the way I have been you guys... we just don't have the numbers and it would take too long! And while I found proof of it's existence, I have no clue as to where this Dark Army is being made or how many already exist. I could go out there and hunt Moldywart down right now, obliterate every trace of him and it could be only a handful of zombies, which I can handle, or it could be pockets of Dark Creatures hidden away all over Europe that I can't."

"We'll help!" Ginny exclaimed.

"That's just it, you're nowhere near being ready to help in something like this! Against Death Eaters and wizards and witches is one thing, but against this... Guys, the spells I've been teaching you are powerful, yes, but you'd need at _least_ the amount of experience I have before—" Harry suddenly stopped talking as his eyes went wide and his breathing hitched.

"Harry?" the girls called, worried, while Ron kept looking around, but he couldn't see or hear anyone.

"Bloody hell, I'm brilliant," Harry said out loud. "We need to get back home. Now!"

With that, all four vanished in a blinding flash of light as Harry teleported them through several levels of wards and then across several miles back to 12 Grimmauld Place. They didn't have much time.

AN: Few last tidbits, as I'm sure a few people have questions by this point. First up, the OSI spell. It's a very obscure and easily misinterpreted theory in Quantum Theory, of how not just light and sound, but all matter can exist in all spectrums of energy, and how it is, theoretically, possible for there to exist lifeforms that their very atoms exist at the exact opposite of our own. I got the initial inspiration off the Stargate SG1 Season 2 episode "Show and Tell". As for the Golden Patronus, I no longer consider that an original idea as I have read at least three different fanfics by at least three different authors where Harry gets a more powerful Patronus and it turns out to be gold instead of silver. Lastly the "spell" Harry used to save Ginny's life; look up Final Fantasy : )


	13. Interlude : Hermione

INTERLUDE:_Hermione Jean Granger_

Hermione had sequestered herself in the study/library on the second floor of 12 Grimmauld Place and had been there for a solid six hours and counting. Ever since Harry finished showing them how to self-transfigure into solid objects in fact. The moment the door was closed and locked, she picked up with doing what she had been doing in this small library since the four of them had... escaped to this... foxhole! She'd been studying.

Most people think they knew what Hermione was all about, most think they understood who and what she was and most even believed they knew what her place in the world was. Even her parents and closest friends fell into the belief that they knew pretty much everything about Hermione Jean Granger.

They were wrong.

Hermione was not your normal brainiac student-oriented witch. In fact, on multiple levels, she was not normal by any definition of the word. Hermione was very special in a way that not many knew about nor could they comprehend it very well either.

Ironic really, how unique she is in the world, and identified for the smallest and simplest things that she can really do, while at the same time there was a secret and unique specialness in regards to her best friend Harry Potter that made him just as unique and just as special. Harry was split into four separate beings, each then had a different and individual training in magic. Then a Time Wizard came along on Harry's 17th birthday and fused all four back into one, creating a magic-user of such power and skill that the entire planet couldn't even imagine. He then turned right around and began teaching his friends all of his skill and doing his best to help them attain enough power of their own so they could help him.

Little did anyone know that after her first week at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, she could have passed her OWLs with straight Os in all the primary courses. By Christmas break, she could have cast every low-power spell (charm, jinx, curse or otherwise), given a full lecture on every other spell in the books, brewed any potion you could think of, no matter how complex, and could recite from memory the complete timeline, of all magical species, goblin and wizards alike, from the beginning of recorded time (Wizard edition) to present day. By the end of the First Year, she could have passed her NEWTs with an O+ on the primary courses and _all_ of the electives. Well... except Divination, but she had avoided that until she couldn't avoid it any longer in Third Year when Ron and Harry had joined that class. After all, what good is it to know everything? There wouldn't be anything new to learn after that!

In simple terms; Hermione is a genius.

Hermione sighed as she put down the book she'd read for the fiftieth time all together. She was about to start all over with the limited collection when an idea struck her. She'd been thinking about the meditations Harry had shown them, of pulling in and containing their magic, and then releasing of it into each spell they did. In fact when she really thought it about, it was exactly what their wands did for them all the time!

Yet at the same time, she knew that there were other ways that wizards focused their magic. Ancient Runes for one, and it just so happened to be a course that she easily passed while at Hogwarts. She wondered, would it be possible for her to focus her magic into runes without actually having to write them out or put them into an object?

It wouldn't be that hard really, especially not after all the meditation and training with their magic Harry had put them through for the past few weeks. She already knew all of the runes that were magic themselves, or could have magic put into them, and focusing her magic into something she already knew, rather than a 'shape' like Harry had them doing with Battle Magic was considerably simpler.

Mind made up, she sat herself on the floor and folded her legs and closed her eyes in order to concentrate. She immediately fell into the now familiar meditation, finding her core and focusing all of her magic down into it, leaking nothing from her core or even her body as she worked. Soon, she was imagining every rune that she knew and was picturing them quite clearly in her mind.

Now came the hard part, she thought to herself. Infusing magic into these... mental runes and seeing if they behaved the same or not. It was harder than she thought it would be, as even though she could imagine the runes without any difficulty, they seemed to disperse themselves the moment she tried to infuse any magic in them, unlike with shaping the spell, which was already made out of magic and had no trouble containing it. Runes were symbols, meant to represent something else, not be made up of it.

Still, she kept at it, and almost lost it the first time she actually succeeded. She stubbornly stayed at it until she finally managed to infuse the mental runes with as much magic as they could handle. Which, surprisingly, wasn't as much as she had thought, and her reserves weren't even drained from the effort.

If Hermione had bothered to open her eyes at this time, she would have seen that all the light had been leeched out of the room, save for that directly around her. What else might grab her attention is the fact that each and every single one of the runes she had just infused with magic, were floating around her body in a haphazard manner, yet still they were there and glowing a bright magenta.

Hermione, however, did not see any of that, as another idea struck her, a basic rule of using runes, they needed to be arrayed into a symbol or pattern, otherwise they didn't really do anything. For example, putting the same rune into a specific pattern, such as your basic pentagram, and depending on the rune you may either have a protection spell, a repelling ward, or even a booby trap that could shoot out a vile curse at the next person to cross it's path. Depending on what symbol you use and what pattern you put it into, you could have any number of results really.

As an experiment, Hermione decided to use the _Leguz_ run in a simple spiral pattern to see what would happen. She focused on the rune repeating over and over into an every expanding spiral with her at the center. Yet again, if she had opened her eyes, she would have seen all the runes that had been floating around her vanish until only the one she was focusing on floated directly above her head. It began to glow brighter the harder she concentrated on it, and then when she started focusing enough magic into her spiral, the spell finally triggered and the effect took place.

Hermione was suddenly brought out of her meditation by a sharp coldness surrounding her. Opening her eyes, she was shocked when she saw that the room she'd been sitting in was frozen over. Not just cold or a bit of snow and ice, but as in completely frozen throughout, like the next ice age had come through and spent a few hundred years transforming all that occupied the room into solid frozen matter.

"Oh... my..." she whispered softly as she got to her feet.

"I need to get Harry," she firmly decided and bolted for the exit as quickly as she could.


	14. Interlude : Ron

INTERLUDE:_Ronald Bilius Weasley_

_Seven Weeks Ago_

_The Burrow_

_Night Harry Fought Voldemort_

Harry had just finished explaining himself for the third time in a row, and the way Moody was carrying on, there would soon be a fourth. So, Harry, not-too-subtly, suggested that the "official" members of the Order consider the facts that he'd already done what they were saying was impossible and shouldn't have done, and get over themselves as quickly as possible. For that, he and all the other "children" were expelled from the kitchen to the living room, and told to wait until they were called back in.

Sighing to himself, and seeing that despite the homey atmosphere, there really was just not enough room in the Burrow for all these people, and with Grimmauld Place potentially compromised, they would need a new place for meetings.

Harry chuckled to himself as he quietly and silently took a look at the wards currently protecting the Burrow and it's inhabitants. It was impressive, powerful and potent enough to keep out the Dark Lord and all his followers obviously, but it was only temporary at that. The so-called Dark Lord was a master ward breaker, having gotten around obstacles that even the eldest Weasley son, Bill, who was a professional ward breaker with Gringotts, would call absolutely impossible to break down singlehandedly. What could not be gotten through today could fall like wet tissue paper tomorrow.

Harry knew a few wards that could certainly improve things, and even more so had designs for a near-fortress of magical strength and ingenuity. The problem, however, lay in that Harry, despite the boost from being merged with his other half, did not have the raw magical power to pull of those special wards, and it would require a few weeks of constant work, even with all the magical clones he could create to rebuild the Burrow from the ground up, which is what would basically be required.

Still, that was for later on, and he figured they would just be sitting here waiting for about another hour before the rest of the Order finally pulled their heads out of their arses. Plenty of time for him to test some of his new knowledge against his old friend.

"Hey Ron," he called, moving over to his red haired friend, "From the sounds of it, they're going to be in there a while, and I'm still to wound up. Care for a game of wizard's chess?"

Ron's eyes immediately lit up. Being the youngest brother, and have a sister that is as good as in many aspects, he'd always felt belittled and like he wasn't good enough. Except, when it came to Wizard's chess! His father had started teaching him the game young, as he had Ron's older brothers, but Ron quickly took to it like a bird to flight. Once he learned the rules, and how to properly play the game, Ron beat his teacher quite easily.

From there, he quickly moved on to each of his brothers, mother, and sister, sticking with it until he'd learned all of their basic strategies until he could beat them every single time they played. If they came at him with a new strategy, as Percy almost always did, he could usually figure it out and fully adapt to it within ten moves. At first. He even beat the twins when they played together and were cheating! (They still had trouble figuring out how he'd done that)

By the time he entered Hogwarts, Ron pretty much thought the only thing he was any good at was playing chess, and his first few years more or less proved him right. He taught the game to Harry, but his raven-haired best friend didn't seem to have the knack for it that he did. Still, it was only chess. Wizard's chess, but still just chess.

He eventually learned other skills, focused on Quidditch, magic, and becoming a better all-around wizard and passing his OWLs. Nevertheless, he loved a good game of chess and always played when he could talk someone else into being beat by him. Harry had stopped playing him shortly before the whole Triwizard Tournament mess. So, having someone who's sworn never to play against him again suddenly challenge him to a game was absolutely brilliant in his mind.

"Sure!" Ron raced forward and quickly set up the Weasley's rather battered chess set.

Five minutes and six moves later, Ron, and everyone else in the room, were staring flabbergasted at the chessboard. For the first time ever, since he was eight years old and Percy had surprised him with a new combination strategy, Ronald Weasley was defeated at Wizard's chess!

"That was brilliant Harry!" Fred congratulated the young mage.

"Mad Brilliant!" George agreed. Then, together, they asked, "How did you do it?"

"Care for another game to see if you can figure it out?" Harry asked aloud with a cocky smirk on his face. He could have been talking to the twins, or Ron, but it didn't matter as Ron immediately reset the board.

Six minutes and twelve moves later, Ron growled stared with uncanny concentration at what had happened twice in a row. Harry was likewise staring hard at the board, but for different reason. He glanced back and forth between the board and Ron, and though nobody could tell outwardly, he was very curious.

"Another game?" he offered. The board was reset in a flash.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone was quiet, hushed by the surprising amount of tension in the air. It was like watching to clashing titans, unnerving, but impossible not to watch and pay attention. Harry was paying almost as much attention to Ron as he was the game, and he was very intrigued by what he saw.

As a Battle Mage, he'd been trained in the use of strategy and basic tactics and more complex wartime and battle oriented thinking since the age of eleven. It took _all _of that training and experience to beat Ron those first two times, and it was taking all that and more to keep from being soundly defeated this time, as Ron was displaying skills that surprised the experienced Battle Mage. He wouldn't call them tactical skills, not by far, but there was the seed for it to grow.

Another twenty minutes later, over a hundred moves made across the board in a flashing display of command and strategy, Ron was looking panicked and Harry was concentrating solely upon the game. He knew there was something more to his friend than anyone else suspected, but he needed full concentration on the game, otherwise he would soundly lose and his two wins so far called a fluke.

Fourteen moves later sealed the deal and Ron cried out in shock, while everyone else in the room just stared at the board, their jaws hanging open in awe. Harry finally took his eyes off the board and glanced back up at his redheaded friend. On the board, two Kings stood squared off against each other with a Rook each to take the other's King and other pieces; Knight and Pawn, to take them should either try to dodge. It was a draw.

Unfortunately, by this time, the Order had finished their arguments and Harry was called back in to explain himself one last time, and shortly after that they were all sent off to bed.

_Two Weeks Later_

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_Day After Cleaning the Attic_

"Hey Harry," Ron greeted his friend as he entered the private study Harry seemed to have acquired as his own, "Hermione said that you wanted to see me about something? Hope it doesn't have to do with more cleaning. The attic was more than enough, thank you!"

"No, no more cleaning," Harry chuckled. "At least none on that scale. Basic cleanliness is still expected, Ronald. You may no longer be at home, but all that means is your mother is not here to pick up after you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ron grumbled. "So, what'cha need?"

"Tell me, have you been enjoying our chess matches of late?"

"Yeah! They're blood brilliant! Where'd you learn how to play so good, mate? I never figured half those moves that you used, and it took me a bloody long while to figure out how to counter'em!" Ron enthusiastically replied.

"Ron, it took you twelve moves and one game a piece to counter every one of my basic strategies," Harry observed.

"Yeah," said Ron, sitting down across from Harry, "Like I said, took me a long time!"

"Most people study chess strategies for entire lifetimes before they fully understand the concept of different strategies and the existence of counters for them. I know, because I happen to be one of them. It took me _years_ of strategic training and tactical exercises to understand concepts that seem to come naturally to you."

"Yeah, so what?"

Harry chuckled again. "Well, I'm going to give you the same training I got and see where you can go with it. You already know chess, so introducing something simpler like chess, poker, or trading card games is pointless. Therefore I'm going to teach you another classical game that has aided military minds across the planet for centuries."

"Really? Wicked! Is this some sort of secret Battle Magic ritual?" he cackled.

Giving Ron a look that more or less said 'Huh? What? Are you out of your mind?' and replied, "No. I'm going to teach you Go."

"Go where?" Ron was confused.

"Proper phrasing should have been 'Go, what', but that's beside the point," Harry sighed. "The name of the game is Go. Just that, Go. G-O, Go. Go is played by two players alternately placing black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a 19 × 19 grid board. The object of the game is to control a larger part of the board than the opponent. This is your standard Go-board. Traditionally, unlike in chess, black goes first. I'll be black, so I can show you the basic rules of the game. Best way of learning is to actually play the game."

"So... where are the pieces?" asked Ron.

Harry gestured to two small clay jars on either side of the board, placed so that each was on the right-hand side for the respective player. Harry then reached into his jar and pulled out a small black circular stone, holding it between his middle finger and his index and ring fingers in the "correct" way of holding and placing the stone. He placed it on the board, clacking it onto the wood before delicately sliding it into place on a point where the grid lines met.

"Also," added Harry just as Ron was pulling out his own stone, "once the pieces are placed on the board, they cannot be moved. This is very different from chess, Ron. Also, as you can see, the pieces don't talk back and give hints. You have to figure out how to win on your own."

"Yeah, so, what's this have to do with Battle magic?" impatiently Ron asked.

"You'll see. Eventually. It's one of those; 'You have to figure it out on your own to understand it' kind of things. Now, like I said, the object of the game is to control most of the board. To do this, you must surround your opponent's pieces completely with your own. Each person can only place a single stone each turn, and this grid is only 19 by 19 lines in size, so while it allows for some interesting combinations, thankfully it can't go on forever. Once you have the other's stones surrounded, consider that 'conquered land', and the surrounded pieces might as well not even be there. There's also a recently added rule... recent being in the past five hundred plus years, give or take... that says your next move cannot return the game to a previous set-up. I'll show you what I mean when we get more pieces in play." Harry put his next stone by Ron's.

Curious as to why Harry was handling the stones in such a way, Ron asked about it. "Hey Harry, how come you're holding the pieces like that? Good luck charm or something?" Ron put down his next stone.

"No," said Harry, putting his next stone in play immediately, "It just happens to be the proper way to hold the stones when making place. Nothing magical about it, just shows to other players that you know how to play the game. Like good manners and so forth."

"Ah, gotcha," Ron nodded as he put down his next stone, and then froze when Harry's was down before he could blink. When he did blink, he realized very quickly what had happened. "How'd you do that?!" he exclaimed as he looked down at his surrounded stones.

"That, is what I am here to teach you," Harry chuckled and handed Ron back his stones and took up his own. "Let's start over, shall we?"

_One Week Later_

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_Day Before Day Off_

"Impressive," said Harry, "Most impressive. I think you're getting the hang of multi-tasking."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't patronize me, mate," Ron grumbled. "You're only doing this to me because I said that stupid _Go_ game of yours was stupid! Knight to E7, Rook to D4, Pawn to F3, Check, King to A6, and Queen takes Knight G5, Check."

Harry made the appropriate moves on the five chessboards, all four were muggle boards and so could not move on their own and nobody trusted the few chess sets they'd found here in Grimmauld place very much. While Harry was controlling the pieces, Ron was across the room doing some Earth katas that Harry wanted him working on. The objective of this little exercise was to improve Ron's ability to multi-task, but at that same time improve his concentration. Getting him to stop begging for another Battle magic spell was just a bonus.

"Care to give Go another chance after we're done here?" Harry moved his own pieces and recited the positions as he made them. Ron immediately replied with the next moves, still doing the same practice moves, and Harry lost the two games where he'd been in check, and was very close to losing the other three.

"Maybe later," said Ron. "Right now, I'm enjoying beating you too much after all this time where we kept coming out to draws or you beating me by one move. I was starting to get worried there for a while."

"Yeah, about that..." Harry interrupted himself to announce his next moves on the three remaining games, then continued, "... I don't suppose you've noticed something about these five games here, have you?"

"No, not really," said Ron, right before he announced his next three moves for each game in turn. "Why? What do you..." Harry interrupted with his next moves, and Ron was already a few steps ahead of those moves, which is when it clicked, "...mean? Bloody hell!" He stopped moving entirely, almost getting up and going over to the boards himself, but Harry glared at him.

"Back in position! If you want, think of this as a test. A chess test. Keep practicing, and tell me your next moves!" snapped Harry. Ron complied.

"You're playing the way you used to," accused Ron after he resumed his katas, "Before you merged, when you were just... uh, Wizard-Harry. You're making the same kind of moves he would make!"

"Correct," Harry acknowledged. "Consider this the 'Easy' setting. After you beat me in these five games, we'll reset and I'll start playing you like I did that week leading up to my birthday, which if you'll recall, I started beating you in chess again after that. Then I'll start playing you for real after you beat me in those five games. Once you're able to come to a draw with me in all five games, we'll move it up to ten games with the same 'Easy', 'Medium', and 'Hard' levels each. Unless you'd like to give Go another chance after this game?"

Scowling, Ron barked out his next few moves and announced checkmate in all of the remaining games. "Reset the board!" he snarled, moving on to the Fire moves that he'd learned so far.

An hour later, Ron was sweating as Harry was playing him full out in ten simultaneous games, and teaching him new moves for Fire, Earth and Water all at the same time. Finally, another half an hour later, the torture was almost over, as Ron had fought Harry to a draw in nine of the games, and learned a bunch of new martial arts moves, and was only one move away from either putting Harry into Check, or calling out another draw for the last chess game.

Finally, "Queen takes Pawn E8, Check," Harry announced, which is exactly what Ron had been waiting for and sprung his trap. "Bishop takes Queen, Checkmate!" Ron crowed, leaping up into a flawless _flame uppercut_.

Harry stood there and moved the pieces, then continued to stand there and stare at the chessboard, the one game out of ten that he'd just lost, and he'd been playing all out too. "Huh," he grunted, going over the game move-by-move to understand what was done, and when he did, he had to say he was impressed. Ron had more or less thrown nine games, using amazing gambits and strategic insights that would have most chess masters wondering how he'd done it, _all_ so he could win this one game, by distracting Harry with more elaborate plays in other locations.

"All right, now we play twenty games," Harry grinned, and turned around to reset the boards and conjure another ten for play.

"NO!" Ron cried out, collapsing to the ground as though in horrible agony. "All right! You win! I'll learn how to play Go! Argh!!"

Harry smiled and vanished all the chessboards and pulled out the still saved Go board and two comfy looking armchairs. "You get to be black this time. I'll have Kreacher get us some refreshments while you get comfy, all right?"

Ron just flipped him off and flopped into the appropriate chair.

_One Week Later_

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_Half Hour Before Ginny Transforms_

"This is impossible!" 'Ron' cried out. "You can't honestly expect me to play like this, do you?"

Harry chuckled and nodded his head. "The assignment is for you three to remain in animal form until you figure out the next step. You've got another five minutes before you're allowed to transform again, by the way. Besides, I'm told badgers are supposed to have very sensitive paws."

The red-brown furred badger across the Go board from Harry seemed to scowl, but it was really hard to tell, before reaching into it's jar and pulling out a black stone, held delicately between three of it's claws, where it then seemed to struggle a bit into putting the stone into one specific spot. Growling deep in it's throat, Ron's voice came from it's moving jaws, "Sensitive maybe, but dexterous and easy to manipulate they're not."

"Getting the hang of the game yet?" Harry asked as he placed his white stone appropriately.

"You're letting me win, aren't you?" 'Ron' asked in reply.

"Same deal as with multi-chess," their nickname for whenever Harry 'threatened' Ron with another multi-tasking exercise of playing so many games of chess while practicing martial arts, "I'm still playing you at the 'Easy' level until you've caught up and beat me every time. Then I'll move on to 'Medium', and when you're actually any good, I'll start playing you for real. But that's still a long way off here."

"And the reason you're making me do this while we're changing into animals every ten minutes?"

"Magical multi-tasking," Harry grinned.

Ron gave a badger-growl, then concentrated on the game, and not spilling the stones all onto the floor by slipping or moving his paw in the wrong way. Some time later, Ron was clearly the winner, but there were still a few moves to make, but nothing that would make any difference in the end. After staring at the board for those few minutes, Harry nodded in acknowledgment and announced, "OK. You win. I concede this game. Good game, Ron."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the badger grumbled. "It would mean a lot more to me if you were actually trying. Does this prove that I'm ready for 'Medium' yet?"

"Not quite, but you're getting there. Five more games where I have to concede instead of fighting to the end, then I'll put some more pressure on you," Harry grinned at his animal-shaped friend.

"Oh whatever," the badger huffed and moved out of the chair and fell heavily to the floor. "I've gotta go to the loo. Keep the game warm for me, eh?"

"Sure thing, mate," Harry nodded and started putting away all of the stones into their respective containers. A minute after Ron had left, a yellow and red-stripe furred feline prowled into the study. Harry took one look at the cat and grinned, saying, "Hey Ginny. How goes the assignment for you?"

"Do I really have to answer that?" she sighed and then leapt up onto the couch in the study. "I still don't see the entire point to all this. Why do we have to do this again?"

"To give you experience with the spell, to improve your control, _and_ in hopes that one or all of you figure out how to do the tricks I told you all about," he said while putting away the last of the Go stones.

Suddenly, on the level above them, there was a loud thud followed very quickly by a shrill scream that was intermixed with the trumpet of an elephant. Harry winced as he could easily guess what had just happened.

"What was that?!" cat-Ginny hissed.

"That... was an unforeseen complication biting me on the ass," Harry sighed and fully put away the Go board and all associated pieces. "Ron had to use the loo. My guess is Hermione had to as well, but probably about a minute before Ron did."

"I'M SOOORRRRRREEEEEEEEEE—!" the sound of a heavy body hitting the ground floor echoed up from the open doorway, followed by a loud sound normally only heard on the African Savannah when you have one very pissed off PMS-ing elephant.

"HAVEN'T YOU EVER HEARD OF KNOCKING??" Hermione's human voice shouted down.

"Well it wasn't like I saw anything!" Ron indignantly shouted back. "Not anythin' worth seeing anyway!"

Harry and Ginny-the-cat both winced at the same time they heard a distinctive 'POP!' from the level above and was followed very shortly by a loud coughing-roar of an enraged, large feline. Half a second later they both witnessed a blur of busy ginger fur tearing past the open doorway, heading for the ground level where another 'POP!' sounded and the whining of a scared dog echoed up afterwards.

"Sounds like they accelerated the clock," said Harry. He nodded to the cat, who nodded back, and a 'POP!' later, a large brown-eyed panda was sitting there on the couch.

"They're probably going to be a while," he commented, "Might as well start going through this stuff, see if there's any of it we want to keep. Want to help?" She, the panda, nodded enthusiastically.

_One Week Later_

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_Earlier in the Evening (Before Hermione rushed in)_

"So, this is what you and Harry have been doing all this time when he's not teaching all of us together?" Ginny asked her brother as they sat across from each other in the study. Between them was a Go board.

Ron nodded, saying, "Yeah. It's called Go. Don't ask me why, that's just what Harry calls it. Anyway, he finally got me to agree to learn how to play proper, after making me play twenty games of chess, _twenty_, at the _same time, _mind you! Anyway, I'm hoping if you learn too, he'll get off me on learning it so much. I'm barely able to beat him as it is! Wonder how he got so good?"

Ginny gave her brother an incredulous look and rolled her eyes. "You can be so thick some times, you know that, right?" she snarled at him.

"What?" he responded defensively.

"Never mind," she rolled her eyes again. "So, how do you play?"

Rolling his eyes in response, he showed her the basics and how to play, then immediately trounced her just to show her how you were supposed to win. She played him one more time, after a lot more talk and some hints about basic strategy to use in the game. She did a lot better the second time. He still won, but he didn't completely dominate the entire game either, and that was good enough for Ginny seeing it was her first time playing and Ron had been playing it for weeks already.

They reset the board for a third game, and Ginny was concentrating heavily on the game, even subconsciously mimicking the way Ron had placed the stones on the board, the correct way to do it incidentally. They had pretty much established their territories, and each controlled a quadrant, but Ron already had Ginny on the defensive and she knew it. They both considered it to be a huge leap in understanding with the fact that she knew she was on the defensive when most first time players still had trouble with learning how to win.

After some rather risky gambits, she made some headway and gained some considerable territory when Ron suddenly turned defensive on her and began building up his own territory to keep from losing any more of it. Ginny almost immediately counterattacked and started moving further in, which unfortunately allowed Ron to sneak a stone every other turn into her own territory, until finally she realized what was happening, and it was too late to stop it. In five more turns, Ron closed the trap, and claimed almost all of Ginny's territory, effectively removing her stones from the board. Needless to say, Ginny never recovered and the rest of the game was more an exercise in desperation as Ginny struggled just to keep her stones on the board and stay in the game.

She managed to hold him off, playing defensively the entire way, for another twenty or so turns, which was surprisingly impressive, all things considered, even if the outcome was clear almost from the start.

An hour later, they both looked up at a strange sound and an odd breeze of cold air came from downstairs. When no other sounds came and the air immediately warmed right back up, they just shrugged and went back to their reading, Ron, his copy of _Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches_, and Ginny a book she'd found in the Black's Library entitled _Jinxes SO Terrible They Should Be Unforgivable (But they're Not)_. She'd found a few new variations of her infamous Bat-Bogey Hex, and a few others that she was looking forward to trying out.

All of a sudden, Hermione burst in, asking for Harry. Which, of course, is when they all realized that none of them had seen him since dinner. Given that they were the only ones living in the building, it was pretty hard to miss somebody walking around or occupying one of the rooms. When the copy came in, however, it became obvious where Harry really was and what happened.

They left for the Ministry immediately.

END INTERLUDE


	15. Interlude : Ginny

INTERLUDE:_Ginerva Molly Weasley_

_Random Restaurant_

_London, England_

_Seven Hours after Diagon Alley Slaughter_

"This is what you call a date?" Ginny's voice was incredulous as they both sat at a table, waiting for the waiter to bring their food after ordering.

"It's what most people call a date," Harry shrugged, looking a bit less confident than normal. "Dinner, talking, strolling I believe it used to be called. No movies playing that are really worth seeing. No shows that I have tickets to. If you really want, suppose I could take you on the Ferris Wheel..." Seeing her eyes light up, Harry mapped out the rest of their evening, regaining some of his confidence.

"Why do you look so nervous?" she asked him after a minute of silence. "If anyone, _I'm_ the one that should be feeling nervous! Look at me! I'm hardly dressed appropriately for an outing, let along going on a date with the Hero of the Magical world."

Harry chuckled, grinned at her and said, "You look fine. Besides, this isn't that kind of restaurant, and jeans and a sweater are sort of the Weasley's style. If it helps you any, just take a look at me, or any of the rest of the customers sitting around here."

Ginny graciously took his offer, looking her boyfriend up and down, almost licking her lips as she said, "Oh yes, you're completely mundane with tight navy blue denims, tight muscle shirt underneath a black silk dress shirt that looks like it was painted on and brings out the color of your eyes. Now I don't feel frumpy at all," she grumbled.

Harry laughed, shaking his head.

"Y'know, I never realized," he started to say.

"What?" she asked.

"How much of my life, all my lives really, that I never really got to have a childhood," he told her. At her shocked look, he continued, "Oh, don't get me wrong or anything like that. For one childhood I got to live like a slave with the Dursley's, only getting enough food to eat to survive, sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs, doing all the chores and menial house-cleaning tasks that a maid would have to do from the age of two and up. Constantly getting yelled at and called a freak and berated and Vernon was never really lenient with physical punishments until I was five years old and strange stuff always seemed to happen whenever he was about to hit me."

"Then, in another lifetime," Harry paused to take a sip of water, "I was an orphan boy dropped on the steps of what equated to a monastery and was in a world where instead of having to worry about things like late homework or not paying the bills on time, the concerns were more involved with possible wars, pirate attacks, and surviving from day to day. Then they found out I had magic and I started studying very early on. I was a fully acredited mage before I was 11."

"So, not much of a childhood, or a normal life," he concluded. "Which is why this is so refreshing."

"This?" Ginny croaked, her throat tight with emotion.

"Being on a date with a beautiful girl, both of us insecure, worried about what the other thinks of us, and fretting over our own appearance and behavior. A perfectly normal date," he laughed, this time she joined in.

"So what else happens on a perfectly normal date?" she asked him with a Twins-inspired smirk.

"Let's find out together, shall we?" he offered. She smiled and nodded. "Let's," she accepted.

_Ferris Wheel London Eye_

_Riverfront, London_

_1 Hour Later_

"This. Is. Amazing!" Ginny exclaimed as she stared out of the window.

"I know," Harry agreed, looking back and forth between the view and the expression on his girlfriend's face. At the moment, as part of their First Date, they decided to go up in the giant ferris wheel, something Harry had seen only a few times before in his life, but always from a distance. Ginny had never seen it period, what with the Wizarding World being so isolated from the rest of the world.

At the moment, thanks to Harry having, discreetly, made a sizable withdrawal from his account in Gringotts, not to mention sold a single galleon as some kind of old Spanish medal he found on the beach somewhere to a goldsmith for quite a bit of cash, they were able to rent an entire car on the ride all to themselves. It wasn't thrilling or adrenaline-packed and it certainly wasn't Quidditch, but there was just something about seeing the city from on high and the altitude that was exhilarating in its own way. Plus, having the car all to themselves was kind of romantic.

After a few minutes of just watching the city go by under them and all the twinkling lights, Ginny moved from the window closer to Harry, who automatically wrapped her up in his arms. It was comforting, for both of them really. Harry, well _all_ of the Harry's were just a bit chauvinistic and wanted to be the protector and provider in the relationship. Half of that was growing up watching Vernon Dursley preach on and on and on and on and on and _ON_ about all that strong men, alpha male garbage that he tried to shove down Dudley's throat growing up, but at the same time, he saw how Petunia Dursley was naturally submissive and seemed to support Vernon's preaching with silent approval. The other half of it was just simply Harry's nature. He was an alpha male by genetics, even if his environment had worked to beat that out of him at every opportunity.

Ginny, on the same side of things, was raised as a witch in the Wizarding world, which is a few centuries behind the rest of human society, and likewise had it preached into her how women were supposed to be submissive to men and make themselves pretty to attract a husband so he can knock her up as quickly as possible, leaving her barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen popping out a baby a year, preferably sons.

On the other side of the coin, Harry Potter of Hogwarts had learned the hard way that all people deserve respect, women and men equally, while all the Harry Potter of Winding Circle literally grew up around strong women and _knew_ they were just as capable, if not more so, as many of the "alpha males" preening themselves out in the world. In fact, Harry could not imagine finding a sycophantic fangirl baby-maker attractive in the slightest, quite the opposite really. He preferred his desired mate to be just as strong and capable as himself, impossible as that might sound at present, but there's no denying instincts. He still wanted to be the protector.

Likewise Ginny, who grew up with six older brothers and is the daughter of Arthur and Molly Weasley, a wizard that breaks the mold by respecting all beings that deserve such respect, most especially muggles, and a witch that has a temper and will of fire to rival a dragon's flame, both of whom had gotten so used to raising boys, they didn't really change much in the way they raised her, except giving her her own room of course. In the normal world, Ginny would be called a tomboy, and probably ridiculed for it had she any female friends beyond Luna Lovegood growing up that is. Nevertheless, she was only just now discovering how nice it felt to be protected and loved and held. It reminded her of when her father held her after she'd had a nightmare and told her stories until she fell asleep. It also made her feel very feminine, and she liked that feeling.

"Harry," she whispered in his arms.

"Yeah?" he said softly in return.

"I'm having a really great time with you," she said. "I hope all our dates are like this."

"Well, see, that right there makes this infinitely better than my first date," he chuckled.

"With Cho?" she asked, feeling suddenly vulnerable and upset.

"Uh..." he rolled his eyes up in thought, "Actually, I had completely forgotten about that... _that_. Honestly, we passed... _that_... on the scale of dates back when dinner was first starting. Cho was... a mistake. One that I kind of regret... in that I ever went on the date in the first place."

Ginny smiled against his chest, feeling a whole lot better all of a sudden.

"No, I was referring to my first date that happened to my Battle Mage part. It was with this wood nymph, Cherry tree I believe, her name was Sakura." Harry continued.

She suddenly felt her heart sinking and getting heavier with every word. First date? Wood nymph?

"Yeah. Anyway, I had just finished a heavy day of training and she came along and asked me straight up if I wanted to provide her... entertainment. That's nymph-speak for a date, foreplay... pretty much everything preceding, and a few things following sex of any kind."

Her heart just reached the soles of her feet and her stomach felt like renting out and decided to move up to the vacated space in her chest, bringing dinner with it.

"So, I took her to a nearby village, got us both some food, then she took me on a small trip, walking over a rainbow if you can believe that. Sat and watched the stars for a while, talked, walked along a magical multi-colored bridge and nymphs pretty much go everywhere naked, so she most definitely had my attention."

Her heart shattered, stomach decided not to stay and turned to stone shortly before dropping back to where it belonged. Tears began to fill her eyes, but she didn't want Harry to see.

"Then we walked to the end of the rainbow and found ourselves on a beautiful crystal-sand beach, the waves and water the color of flame as the sun began to set along the horizon and the moons rose over the waters. Pictures would just take away from the reality of it and words can never hope to describe just how beautiful it was at that moment. Then, she took me to her tree, the leaves a deep penetrating green, while petals bloomed all over, a soft pink that was breathtaking to behold. And she plopped right there and pretty much threw herself at me."

Forget shattered, her heart was absolutely and forever destroyed! A silent sob almost escaped her lips, but she held it in through sheer force of will.

"I'd have to say this date, so far, tops that one by a full ten points, on the date scale of 1 to 100," Harry finally said to her, having been staring out at the cityscape the entire monologue.

Ginny blinked away her tears, confusion settling in to her emotion-rattled brain. "Huh?" she articulated.

He looked down into her brown eyes and smiled, and instantly her heart reformed and was beating a thousand beats per second, and she knew everything was all right. She couldn't explain it, it's just how she felt.

"That was a fun time, don't get me wrong. But nymphs are fickle creatures. She had fun, but she didn't really enjoy it the way I enjoyed it, most certainly. No intimacy, for starters. Plus, enjoyment is always better when it is shared, like with now." He kissed her forehead. "I've had fun on this date because it was with you, Ginny. Not because of the food we ate or where we went or even what we saw, what we're seeing," he gestured outwards at the window. "But because you were with me, and you were having fun and enjoying yourself. I also don't expect anything from you, in fact, I would appreciate it if you didn't try and throw yourself at me."

She giggled, blushing fiercely, but did not look away from his penetrating green stare.

"You're one of my best friends, Ginny," he told her. "And... I feel that you could become more. Not yet, but there is the potential. I care about you a great deal. Today proved that to me more than anything else. You almost died, and I almost let it happen."

"Harry—" she started to protest, but he put his finger over her lips.

"No," he quieted her, "I need to say this. I do love you. But, and I know you're going to hate me for saying this, but right now it's the same kind of love that I feel for Hermione. I... love you like a friend, like a sister. I _do_ find you attractive, but at the same time, I'm not blind and Hermione _is_ a year older..."

Frowning, she punched him in the arm, still in his embrace, and snapped at him, "Prat."

He chuckled and smirked, but didn't deny her accusation. "Anyway," he continued, "I cannot _honestly_ say that I am in love with you. Yet. But I'm willing to find out some day."

She closed here eyes and leaned in against him, feeling his strong masculine body against her own.

Finally, she sighed and leaned back so she could look him in the eye once more.

"I suppose I should say now that I've loved you since I was a little girl, and that I will always love you like that," she said to him. "But to be perfectly honest, I can't say that. What I felt as a little girl is _nothing_ compared to what I feel now, and it's not even sexual! When I'm in your arms like this, Harry, I feel like I'm in my father's arms."

Confused, he tilted his head at her and arched an eyebrow.

"Not like that, you idiot," she snorted, annoyed. "I meant that I feel safe, protected, like when Dad used to hold me after a nightmare and tell me stories. But I also feel a great deal of caring for you, and something else. Something so much... _more_ than I can honestly handle at the moment. I can't really describe it. I never felt anything like this when I was little so I can't say that I loved you like this, because I don't really know what this is. But I know I like it. So... whatever this is, however long it takes for the both of us to figure it out... I'll wait. Because I want to find out some day too."

He smiled, and then leaned in and kissed her senseless. She smiled, then kissed him right back.

END INTERLUDE


	16. The Mirror

_12 Grimmauld Place_

_Universe 4 In 1_

_Early Morning_

They appeared on the ground floor of the apartment flat in a flash of green light, only a little disoriented from the sudden change, and the fact that Harry suddenly tore away from them, screaming, "KREACHER!"

The old House Elf appeared immediately. Curious, the others approached, dispelling their transformations as they did so. Harry knelt down so his eyes were on level with his House Elf's.

"Kreacher, me and the others are going away for a while. Things are happening in the world. Potentially bad things. Maybe even Very Bad Things," he paused when he heard Kreacher gasp, and he knew the House Elf understood. To an Elf, Very Bad Things can mean only a small number of scenarios. The mess an Army on a rampage left behind without a single Elf left alive to clean it up, fit right in there with that.

"We're going away because we need to become stronger, to become powerful enough to stop these bad things. I'm not about to abandon you though, so I want you to go back to Hogwarts and serve there. While you're there though, I need you to do something for me," he whispered.

Kreacher immediately began bobbing his head up and down, almost crying out loud, "Kreacher do anything for Master! Master brought back Master Regulus's Locket! Master can do anything! Kreacher will do whatever Master requires!"

"Good," Harry nodded, then leaned in close and whispered his instructions directly into the old House Elf's floppy bat-like ears. Immediately the Elf nodded his head and then disappeared with a crack.

"C'mon," Harry said as he stood to his feet. "We've got to pack."

"Harry? What...?" Hermione protested as he ran up the stairs.

"I'll explain as you pack! Now hurry, we _really_ do not have the time to debate this!" he shouted.

Turning to look at each other, the three teens shrugged and raced up the stairs to do as their friend and leader commanded. Thankfully "packing" did not actually require much as they just had a few bags of clothes and another bunch of trinkets and tools acquired since leaving the Burrow, and then all of that went into Hermione's bag and stayed with her. Harry also tossed her a few other things that none of them recognized, but he just told them that they were useful items that they might need. He then stressed the words 'might need' several times over.

During this mad-dash packing, Harry answered all their questions as much as he could. Anything that would require a longer explanation, he said to them that he would tell them later on. For the most part, he just explained what it was they would be doing now.

"Where exactly are we going, Harry?" Hermione asked as she slowly placed all their items into her bottomless bag. "And why in such a hurry?"

"We have to leave tonight, preferably before the dawn," came Harry's short reply as he pulled the living portraits of Mrs. Black and former Hogwarts Headmaster Phineas Black out of somewhere and raced to put them back in their original places. "We also have a limited window in which to do so."

"But why?" Ron repeated Hermione's question.

Sighing, Harry tried to explain. "It's complicated," then he turned around and started looking for anything they might have missed. Realizing that was all the explanation he would give, they all protested.

"Harry! That's not an explanation!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Well, that's all I can say for right now!" he shouted back.

"At _least_ tell us where we're going," Hermione begged, "Even if it's just to the train station."

He hesitated, before sighing. "Hogwarts," he replied shortly.

"What about it?" Ron asked, confused.

"We're going there," Harry muttered as he streaked past.

"Where?" Ron further questioned.

"Hogwarts," Harry growled this time.

"What about it already?" Ron asked, exasperated now. The girls both rolled their eyes and groaned.

"We're going to Hogwarts!" he screamed. "Happy now?"

"Why are we going to Hogwarts?" Ron asked after a minute of silence.

"It's complicated," Harry answered.

"Then try explaining it!" Hermione exclaimed, more than a little exasperated herself.

"You try explaining NEWT level material to First Years!" he shouted back at her, startling all of them into silence. "I am _trying_ to keep all of you alive and save the whole bloody damned world at the same time here! I do not have the time to explain everything. You just have to trust me, all right? We need to leave. Sooner, rather than later. Now, do we have everything?"

They just stood there, staring silent at him.

Angered, he shouted again, "_Do you have everything_?!"

"Yes," Hermione squeaked. Ron and Ginny both timidly nodded their heads.

"Good, we need to go," he turned to leave the bedroom.

"Harry," Hermione called just before he left. He paused and turned to look at her. "There's something that I need to show you. I... I found it, I suppose you could say, earlier. When I was trying to find you that is..."

"Hermione, we really don't have time for show and tell," he turned back around, right until he felt exactly what it was Hermione was showing him. Spinning around, he watched as the light around Hermione seemed to leave everything else and put a spotlight on her, even as a glowing rune appeared above her head.

"Hermione!" he cried. "Hermione, stop it! Stop it! Stop it right now!"

Startled, she stopped and all effects vanished at once. "What? It was just a new meditation technique I was experimenting with..." she started to say when he cut her off.

"I really don't have time for this," he hissed, running his fingers through his wild hair.

He paced back and forth in a tight circle for a moment, then growled and shook his head. "I repeat, we don't have time for this. I'll explain later." Grabbing the girls he put Hermione's bag into her hands and then dragged them by their arms out the door. "Get down to the foyer. I have some last minute things to take care of. I'll join you when I'm done. Do not argue with me!" he shouted when it looked like they would.

Meekly, all three of them made their way downstairs, surprised when most of the lights went out as they made their way past the final landing, but they continued until they were in the foyer before the front door. Moments later, a tremor shook the house, they panicked a little, and the girls shrieked when a heavy object landed right beside them, after having fallen from the top story. They all breathed a little easier when they saw that it was just Harry. Moments later, Hedwig flew down and landed on her familiar spot on his right shoulder.

"What was that?" Ginny asked him.

"I just took the wards down. All of them. The Ministry, if they were ever tracking us or this place, will be here inside of a minute. That's why we don't have a lot of time. It's safe to Apparate now. Go to the main gate of Hogwarts. Don't worry, it's almost midnight, nobody is going to be there to see or hear us." Seeing them hesitate, he frowned and snapped, "Go! Now!" Three pops later, Harry was alone in 12 Grimmauld Place.

"Sorry you old ghoul," Harry sneered at the portrait of Sirius's Mother, "But the Blacks are dead. Time the last of their legacy went with them."

Cupping his hands together, he formed the spell without seals or any other methods beyond pure will upon the force of his magic. A brilliant emerald green orb formed between his cupped hands, shining it's light throughout the dark halls of the last refuge of the Ancient and Noble House of Black. His own eyes shining with twin rings of the same light, Harry cast the spell, even while forming the basic elements silently in his mind. "**_Full Elements: Armageddon._**"

He let his hands fall away and the orb floated where it had formed for a few seconds, right before falling to the floor and being absorbed into it. Smirking to himself as he teleported away, Harry joined his friends at Hogwarts Main Gate.

Thirty seconds later, the first Death Aurors arrived, signaling back with the all-clear and soon enough, every floor of the building had at least one Death Eater or 'loyal' Auror on the landing and in every major room. They cleared all the rooms and confirmed that there was no trace of delayed curses and sent back another signal. Ten seconds after that signal went off, the entire building exploded.

_Hogwarts_

_Main Gate_

_Midnight-ish_

Thing about teleporting versus Apparating, Wizards only ever prepare for what they know to prepare, and Wizards only know, or care for that matter, about Apparition. So the Anti-Apparition wards around Hogwarts really only apply to Apparition, and somebody teleporting in, like House Elves, or say... a Battle Mage, well they can get in just as easy as they please.

So Hermione's near outrage as Harry appeared on the _other_ side of the gate from them could be understood if this fact was taken out of context.

"Harry!" she exclaimed when they saw him teleport in, within Hogwarts boundaries. "What are you... how did you... You can't Apparate in Hogwarts!"

"I didn't," he chuckled as he unlocked the gate from the inside, the only way it could be opened at all in fact, "I teleported. I do believe we've had this discussion before, Hermione."

"Oh... right," she blushed demurely.

Harry opened the gate and let them all in, before closing and locking it behind them. Then he turned and lead them up the pitch black path to their castle school. "OK," he whispered, "Obviously, it is after September first, so there are people here, Filch is patrolling the halls, the ghosts are doing whatever, all that. What we're looking for, what we need to find basically, is in the dungeons. Thankfully nowhere near the Slytherin dormitories, or the Potions lab, but the dungeons nevertheless. Once we are inside the castle, until I say otherwise, we make as little noise as possible. The cloak can't cover all four of us, and it's all or none, so that is no longer an option. We do not speak. If we need to communicate at all, I'll open a telepathic link, like I did in Diagon Alley, all right?"

They all nodded.

"Once we're in a safe enough spot, and I'll tell you when, I promise to explain. Until then, though," he glared at each of them in turn, "Absolute. Silence. Quiet. No questions, no complaints, no whining. Nothing."

Again, they nodded.

"Let's go," he lead them to one of the open end courtyards and then through one of the doors into the castle proper. Once there, still remaining as quiet as possible, they made their way to the Great Staircase, grateful that all the Portraits seemed to be dozing or very much asleep. Not surprising, given the hour.

Suddenly, Hermione tapped Harry impatiently on his shoulder, glaring at him when he stopped to glance back at her. Frowning, he let out a noiseless sigh, then opened the magical mind-link between all of them.

'_What?!_' was the first thought out of his head, directed solely at the bushy-haired brunette.

Frowning, yet still following as he lead them down into the dungeons, she retorted, '_Well, I _was_ going to ask what we, or rather you are going to do if Filch or Mrs. Norris actually _do_ find us, but given your tone, I'd rather know why you reacted so violently when I showed you my new meditation technique._'

Harry rolled his eyes, thankfully where Hermione could not see him do so, then replied, '_To the latter, it was not a meditation technique. It's something I wasn't even going to show you, let alone teach you! It's not something that I'm... talented in, we'll put it like that. Also, what you were about to do using... _that,_ would have killed Ron, Ginny, and _maybe_ myself if you managed to catch me off guard, which you almost did, I'll have you know. To the former; Filch is getting on in his years and none of the students would miss him._'

Hermione's eyes went wide, letting out and audible gasp, which had Harry turning on her with his hand over her mouth and anger in his eyes. '_QUIET!_' he mentally screamed. Ron and Ginny both winced.

'_Harry! How could you? Death Eaters and Dark Wizards are one thing, but... but we've known Filch for years, and he's just doing his job and..._' Hermione protested silently.

'_I did not say I would kill him. Brainwashing and Obliviating however..._' he trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished.

'_Good riddance, I say,_' Ron added his two knuts.

'_How about we work on _NOT_ getting caught before we actually _ARE_ caught, huh?_' Ginny suggested.

'_Stay quiet, follow me,_' Harry turned them down an unused corridor of the dungeons. They all followed silently, making sure to stay as quiet as they could.

After about ten solid minutes of walking, down a straight corridor no less, they came to a door along the side of the hall. It wasn't any different from any other door in all of Hogwarts, in fact it was quite unremarkable. Even the door on the Third Floor Corridor in their First Year had at least a lock and a large archway with part of it, and this door didn't even have that much, just iron hinges and wooden panels in a simple stone doorway. Still, it was the door Harry stopped in front of.

'_Hold on a minute,_' Hermione sent, looking up and down the long hallway. '_Where exactly are we? I've never been to this part of the dungeons before. Come to look at it, I don't think anyone has, not in quite a while anyway. Harry? Where are we?_'

Harry just smiled at her and opened the door in response.

Curious, they all walked in before him and saw a really unremarkable room. It was a square room for starters, and that was about as odd as it got, given how few rooms are _actually_ square, equidistant on all sides, floor to ceiling and walls to walls. The door actually opened near the top corner of the cube-room, but had stairs going down, ending in the bottom corner. The only other thing that could be said about the room was that it had something in it. And only one thing, not counting the spiders, roaches, insects and other vermin.

'_Harry, what is that thing?_' Ginny asked as she started down the stairs.

Harry's reply was to shut the door behind them with a bang and then cast, "Silencio!"

"OK, free to talk now. I suggest taking the stairs," he told them, right before he jumped straight down to the floor about ten or fifteen feet below. Hermione almost screamed, but saw that he landed safely, not to count all the times she'd seen him do things considerably more dangerous than jumping down several meters.

"In answer to both yours and Hermione's questions, Ginny," Harry said as he walked towards the thing in the center of the room, "We're in one of the Vaults of Hogwarts. And this thing is what is being kept inside this particular vault."

"Wait a minute..." Hermione got that look where she started thinking faster than most birds could fly. She stopped just before taking the last step, Ron and Ginny already off the stairs and walking towards Harry. "One of the Vaults of Hogwarts, but... I read about them in Hogwarts, A History. They're supposed to have been specially warded rooms that the Founders set aside within Hogwarts. They were to have been created to store magical artifacts too dangerous for the rest of the world to know about, but too powerful to be destroyed or handled by the Ministry."

"Exactly right, Hermione," Harry grinned at her, casually walking around the object during her recitation. Ron and Ginny were just standing there, staring at the front of the thing. "Care to supply the rest of the information that can be found about this room that resides within Hogwarts, A History?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione was confused.

"The reason Hogwarts is so big and so few of it's rooms are actually used... is because practically the entire rest of the castle is... the Vaults of Hogwarts," he told them cheerfully.

"How... how is that possible?" she asked.

"The rooms move, Hermione," Harry told her straight out. "My guess, the reason the Sorcerer's Stone was put into the Third Floor Corridor and why Dumbledore put it under traps like that, is because he _had_ thought that the room was one of the Vaults, hence him putting it there. When he found out it wasn't..." he shrugged and then continued, "Hence, the traps. I probably should have asked Dumbledore earlier if the reason he didn't keep moving the Stone around or put it under better traps was because he was looking for one of the Vaults so he could then put it there, but that's neither here not there."

"This room, and many, many, many others just like it, are why Hogwarts is known as the safest place in the world. More secure than Gringotts, for the simple fact that unless you're one of the Founders themselves, once you put something in one of the Vaults, _nobody_ is getting it back."

"Then... how are we here?" Hermione, still on the last step of the stairs, questioned.

"The other way to get into the Vaults is to know exactly where it is, and where it will be going," Harry cryptically replied.

"What does that even mean?" Hermione exclaimed, shaking her head in confusion.

"I told you guys earlier that I came to Hogwarts during our day off, remember?"

They all nodded.

"Well, besides just grabbing the Elder Wand and having a... chat, with Professor Snape, I was also using my recently rejoined core and... unique magical education to map out Hogwarts with something a great deal more complete than the Marauder's Map ever could have been. I found a number of the Vaults and figured out how they moved. Think of it as one of those child games, the Rubik's Cube, that sort of thing. Each of the Vaults are constantly moving, but they're moving in a fixed pattern. Problem for most people is that that pattern takes about 100 years to cycle through, and each Vault is only in a single place for maybe... an hour at a time, if not much less."

"So," he continued, still walking around the thing, "when I mapped out the Vaults, it really wasn't that hard for someone of my intellect to figure out the pattern. It's only repeated about ten times and is starting on the eleventh in fact. So, keeping in mind of where each Vault was the last time I was here, calculating out the time difference for each Vault's speed and each location's holding time, simple arithmetic really. We're lucky actually, this place was about two minutes away from moving into the South wing wall when we walked in. It's also why we were in such a hurry, because getting into the South wall isn't exactly easy, and each Vault stays there, _in_ the South wall, going in all sorts of crazy patterns, for about a week before moving onto another section. Not that it would have stopped me or anything, just made things... difficult."

"So... what is that thing anyway?" Hermione asked, finally taking the last step and walking forward.

"Take a look for yourself," Harry gestured, now leaning against the side of it.

She did, coming up next to Ron and Ginny, staring straight at it.

"It's an archway, a stone archway," she shrugged, not seeing anything to special about it.

"It's not an archway," Ron told her, his voice shaking somewhat.

"What?" Hermione took a closer look at it, and almost screamed, jumping back as she saw something move within the 'stone archway', and then felt like really screaming when she finally saw what it was.

"Let me provide a little light," Harry chuckled, raising a wand and then casting '_Lumos_' then caused the light to get much brighter and leave the tip of his wand, hovering at the center of the ceiling, illuminating the entire cubed chamber.

Hermione almost screamed all over again when she finally saw what was inside the 'stone archway', then she tilted her head and looked again and felt rather silly. She sighed in relief when she saw that they were looking at a mirror, and that she had gotten so scared just from her own reflection. Seeing the other shapes lit up at the same time and then further mirror their own actions, particularly her own, relieved Hermione as she thought that they might've been found out.

"What is this Harry?" Hermione asked, then paused, looking about as there was an echo that she hadn't noticed before.

"Would you care to take this one?" Harry asked the mirror.

"With pleasure, thank you," came Harry's voice, right before Harry's 'reflection' moved to in front of the mirror, standing beside the Hermione in the mirror, while the 'real' Harry remained leaning against it. Of further note of interest, the Harry in the mirror also had a Hedwig on his shoulder, only she was perched on his left shoulder, while the 'real' Hedwig was still perched on Harry's right shoulder.

"What's going on?" both Hermione's asked, their voices semi-echoing each other.

"Harry—" they started as one, but then each said something different though at the exact same time.

'Real' Hermione, "—how is this showing you're reflection when you're there? Is it some kind of trick?"

'Mirror' Hermione "—how is it your reflection isn't there? Are you some kind of vampire now?"

Suddenly everybody was looking at the mirror for whole other reasons.

"What's going on?" both Hermione's demanded to know.

"I'd get cracking on that explanation," 'real' Harry said to the mirror, "You know how they get when we hold back information like that."

"Oh sure, place all the blame on me, why don't ya!" 'mirror' Harry retorted.

"Harry!" both Hermione's exclaimed, the one in the mirror hitting 'her' Harry on the arm.

"Ow! Don't have to hit me y'know!" he yelled back. 'Mirror' Hermione just glared at him, while 'real' Hermione began to freak out just a bit.

"What is going on here, Harry?! Why is it doing that? What is this thing?!" she screamed at him.

"Told you," Harry leaned around to glare at his counterpart.

"Fine," 'mirror' Harry grumbled. "First of all, Hermione, _both_ Hermione's, please, calm down. You're not going crazy, the Mirror isn't evil, and it's not dangerous either. Well, not directly anyway. It is, however, a magic mirror, as that should be more than obvious, given how it's located in Hogwarts, and one of the Hogwarts Vaults to boot. With me so far?"

"Oh, get on with it already!" Harry growled, finally stepping out and taking the same position next to Hermione that the Harry in the mirror had. The difference was Hedwig's position made all the more obvious. 'Mirror' Hedwig took a glance at her counterpart, squawked at 'her' Harry, who nodded back. The snowy white owl in the mirror ruffled its feathers before hopping from the left shoulder to the right shoulder, even while 'real' Hedwig remained where she was, unmoving, though with a glint of amusement in her amber eyes.

"Why? You in some kind of rush? We made it to the room in time, not that it really matters what the other does in regards to the original, but we're safe now and can leave at any time we damn well please," 'mirror' Harry snapped back.

"Why do you need to use it, just curious?" Harry suddenly asked.

'Mirror' Harry shrugged and answered, "Thought it would be a good idea for getting them," he gestured at the Ron, Ginny, and Hermione behind and beside him, "some more practical experience. They've just mastered the Transform spell and Hermione showed me something that leads me to believe that they each need more training and in more diverse environments than going into hiding could provide." He got a confused look on his face suddenly, and asked, "Why? What do you need it for?"

"Did you go to the Ministry tonight? Infiltrate with the OSI spell and spy on them a bit?" Harry asked, ignoring the other's question.

Frowning now, 'mirror' Harry shook his head. "No. I was feeling a bit restless, and while I'll admit, the thought crossed my mind about doing that, I decided to do some more training and worked with Ron and Ginny until Hermione showed me... what I just mentioned. Why?"

"Because I did go to the Ministry tonight, freed a bunch of people lined up for being 'Impure' and 'Undesirable' and sent a bunch of Dementors fleeing to boot," he answered.

"Ah, well... I guess that's where we divided from then," 'mirror' Harry commented, then asked, "Why is that even important?"

"Because, besides doing all that, and tormenting Umbridge a bit too, I found concrete proof of Voldemort's plans to build an army, a Dark Army. Made up of every dark magical creature imaginable, zombies and Inferi included. It is also what's happening to all the Undesirables that Umbridge was sentencing to Azkaban," Harry informed his counterpart.

"Holy shit," said counterpart cursed, paling significantly.

"I couldn't say if the same is happening in your universe, and if what your Hermione is the same as what my Hermione _almost_ showed me, then I can understand your reasons for resorting to this. It also draws attentions to the parallels, unfortunately."

"I... I can't go back now. We've got like thirty seconds to leave before being trapped in here for almost a week! And Filch was patrolling the grounds here, so I can't bust open the North wall!"

"I thought you said this room moved to the South wall?" Hermione asked, next to Harry.

"After all this conversation, between these two idiots," 'mirror' Hermione said, even while both Harry's cried out with a 'Hey!' at the insult, "you still haven't figured it out? What this mirror is for? What it does?"

Hermione silently nodded, then said, "I just really don't want to believe it is all. I mean... the scope of what this means... what has been inside of Hogwarts all along... It's terrifying!"

"Tell me about it," 'mirror' Ron scoffed, then looked at his counterpart when there was no echo.

Ron sheepishly shrugged and said, "I... uh, I wasn't going to say anything. Hermione talking about how terrifying something is, she's usually right on the money, and I don't want to know about anything more terrifying than a Dark Army that can destroy the whole world in less than a day." 'Mirror' Ron gulped.

"It's up to you," Harry shrugged at his counterpart. "Ten seconds by the way."

'Mirror' Harry glanced back and forth between the door and the mirror, then got a rather devious look on his face. 'Real' Harry saw it, then immediately mirrored it as he apparently realized what his counterpart was thinking. "Would certainly make a bang," he apparently agreed with the idea.

"We'll go ahead and get started with our training. I'm going to stick to those that are seriously outside of our time frame. Maybe even go back and meet the Founders. Should let us get back soon enough that I can make an entrance and still obtain the same proof you did."

"I'm sorry, a 'bang'? What are you talking about?" 'real' Hermione asked her Harry.

"Earlier, when I said that this particular Vault went to... one of the walls? Well, I meant the entrance appears on the _inside_ of the wall. Impossible to get in or out of. Even opening the door would require blasting said wall apart from the inside out. As of right... now," he glanced at his pocket watch, "this room, on both sides of the Mirror, is behind said walls. Even to get out to the kitchens would requiring opening that door, which again, requires blowing the wall apart from the inside out. So, only way to really get out, is the way we're all going."

"Which is?" both Hermione's asked.

"Through the Mirror," both Harry's answered. "Into another universe."

"What's a uni—whatever?" both Ron's questioned.

"Ron, shut up!" both Ginny's slapped their brothers across the back of the head.

After a second, both Ron's commented, "That's going to get rather annoying."

"Just wait until you meet a double in person," both Harry's said.

"So, wait," 'real' Hermione interrupted, stepping forward, "If the only difference between our two... universes? ... is that... _your_ Harry stayed behind while... _our_ Harry went to the Ministry, does that mean that your Harry is the same as ours and..."

"Uh, Hermione, that's not really..." Harry tried to stop her.

"What do you mean?"'mirror' Hermione asked.

"Well, about how Harry has all this new magical knowledge and everything. How this Time Wizard came and split Harry into four different people and then gave each of them a different magical education," she answered.

'Mirror' Harry raised his eyebrows and nodded at his counterpart. "Impressive. And very unique might I add. What training do you have?"

Rolling his eyes at his bushy-haired friend, he replied, "Wizard, Hogwarts variation, Battle Magic, Ambient and Academic Mage training at Winding Circle and Lightsbridge University respectively, and Covert Field Training for the Magical Intelligence Community. I take it from your mention of the Transform spell, you're one of the ones that is both an Avatar of Merlin, a Descendant of one or more of the Founders, and has released the knowledge and powers within the soul fragment left in our scar?"

"Not Avatar," 'mirror' Harry said, "More like, replacement. Or Heir, yeah, Merlin's Heir works better."

"Wait... you're not the same?" 'real' Hermione pointed back and forth between both Harry's.

Harry shook his head and sighed. "No. What happened to me was entirely unique. For a lot of different reasons, but trust me when I say that I really am the only Harry that something like this has happened to. It might've coincided with other events happening in other universes, prompting the same series of events that has happened ever since two weeks before I left the Dursley's, but yeah, I'm the only four Harry's in one."

"Wicked!" 'mirror' Ron crowed.

"Anyway," 'mirror' Harry spoke up, "We'd better get moving along, as both of us have explanations to give. Good luck, Harry."

"Good luck, Harry," said Harry.

'Mirror' Harry made a motion with his hand and then the image just sort of blinked out and suddenly they were looking at the stone wall of the room. Although if they looked closely, they would see that it was still a mirror and what they were looking at was the wall behind them. So, the same room, empty, but in another universe.

"Harry... what is this thing? I mean, really, what is it?" Hermione demanded to know.

Taking a deep breath and letting out a long sigh, Harry turned around and started to explain.

"This Mirror, is called the _Mirror of the Ancients_. It has some fancy Latin name but that really doesn't matter at this point. It has a duplicate in _every single universe_. That's rare. It cannot be destroyed, and if it is, it reforms somewhere else, maybe in some other form. Point is, what it does, is it connects itself to every single one of it's duplicates. Oh, not all at once. Think of it like the Floo, direct one-to-one, point-to-point links. Some things change, but for the large part, you'll find yourself in the same spot, just a completely different universe. A different reality, sometimes even alternate dimensions! But, as you all can guess, it's dangerous too. Hence, why the Founders put it in a Vault all by itself."

"What's a uni... what's that you're talking about?" Ron stuttered out. "I asked earlier, but you and the... other you... ignored me. Now that you're not distracted, what is it?"

"Not to sound as much of a prat," Ginny spared a glare for her brother, "but I'd like to understand too. I've never heard of this... universe thing. Let alone bunches of them!"

"Universe is the English word for the whole of creation," Harry answered before Hermione could.

"Well, quantum physics theorizes..." she started to say, then stopped when the confusion in both redheads' eyes increased, and Harry gave her a chastising look.

"Hermione, you know better. Wizards don't care for muggle science. Let alone _theoretical_ science," he admonished her.

"How do you even know about the theory of alternate realities and parallel universes?" she snapped.

"Read a lot of science fiction when I was a kid," he joked. She wasn't laughing. Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair and explained, "Joshua, the Time Wizard, also explained the concept to me, multiple times, for at least half of me, meaning two of my other selves. I was trained in a pocket dimension, I'll have you know! It's also, in part, how I know about this thing. There was one in that pocket dimension too, so I reasoned, since as I said there is one in _every_ universe and dimension, there had to be one here, and Wizards would have found it first, and there are only two places in the world where it would've been put once they did. Here, or on Avalon."

"Avalon?" all three exclaimed.

"Yes, Avalon is real. Get over it," he scowled. "Anyway, back to the first few explanations I owe you guys. Voldemort's plan is bad. I've already explained _why_ its bad and how bad it could get. Well, as many of me as I could make with all the copy spells I know, there's just no way to be certain, and now the Ministry is pretty much under his control. You guys can help, but you've only just begun to learn Battle Magic and I can't both train you and fight a war at the same time."

"But the Order of the Phoenix..." Hermione started to say.

"Would only get in the way. They're a bird watching club, or in actuality, a snake watching club. They're good at gathering information, but not at countering the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself at full strength. They might have been once, but that was when they were in their prime! The only new members are Tonks, the Twins and the other Weasley children. Maybe you can count Fleur and her Headmistress, but the rest of them are from the old war and none of them kept in shape and they've lost whatever edge they once had. Quite frankly, we need a different tactic. As good as Dumbledore was, times have changed, and I'm in charge now. And we're not ready for this."

"And this is supposed to help us get ready?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded, walking around it, temporarily disappearing from view when he stepped behind the mirror. "Different universes exist at different quantum frequencies..." he stopped, then started again, "What I mean is that one minute in this universe could be one hour or one day in another universe. Or like wise, one minute in another universe could be a hundred years here. No way to tell without actually visiting them and everything. The Mirror, however, is different. It stabilizes the time flow, sort of syncs everything up to the same clock, but only directly around it. Hence why it was locked up in a Vault in a magic school. Special wards, unique to this Vault, were placed around this room keeping the effect within this room only."

"Does that mean I'm getting older right now? Or younger? Or are we going to leave here and a hundred years will have passed?" Ron started to panic.

"No," said Harry, glaring at his friend. "All it means is that any 'time corrections' the Mirror does, does not affect the rest of the world. A week in here is still a week outside. But, if we step through and spend two weeks outside the room in another universe where one week is like a second here, then we step back through, only a couple seconds will have passed, while two weeks passed in that universe. That, is the plan."

"So, we spend however long it takes us to train and learn Battle Magic in another universe, or even other universes, then we come back home here..." Ginny began to say.

"And step back through at most, about a day later," Harry finished for her.

"How do we decide which universe to go to? Is there any way to tell?" Hermione asked.

He shrugged. "I can tell the general speed the universe is passing at just by looking at the reflection, but there are other factors to take into account, which I can't say anything about."

"Such as?"

"Well, the whole point of traveling to other universes is to give me the time to train each of you in Battle Magic and to make all of you more powerful. Pretty much the equal of me, as much as that is possible anyway. If, by some chance, we get to a universe where Voldemort succeeded in killing me 16 years ago, or where Gridelwald won and conquered all of the Wizarding world, or even where Slytherins are the heroes and Gryffindors are the dark wizards... Hey, it could happen!"

Ron had been rolling his eyes but held his tongue.

"Point is, we could wind up in a universe where we won't exactly have time or opportunity for me to continue your training. But, that's a chance we'll just have to take. Just wanted you to be aware of it," he said.

"How do we use it?" Ginny asked, stepping closer. He was suddenly there, between her and the Mirror.

"You touch it," he said. "Touch the surface of the mirror and the next thing you know, you're in another universe. So, don't touch it yet. That room doesn't have an us in it, but that could be because we were a little late in getting here in that universe. Nevertheless, safe bet that the Vault is sealed off there too."

"So... how do we get it to change... universes?" Hermione asked, sounding as though she couldn't believe she'd just said what she'd said. "I mean, how did that... other Harry make it change?"

"Simple wand motion will get it to shift it's view," he answered. "When two universes are connected and the one disconnects, or switches to another connection, the other mirror automatically reconnects to the next available universe. Stand here long enough, I'm sure..."

"—Is this how you do it?" Hermione's voice came from the mirror and suddenly instead of an empty room, they found another set of themselves... only Ginny had been replaced with Neville.

"... that another version of us will tune in," Harry finished what he was saying.

The two Harry's glanced at each other, then at each other's group before the one in the Mirror asked, "Dark Army?" Harry nodded, then asked him, "Extra training? Merlin's Heir?" His counterpart nodded with a cocky grin, then addressed his own Hermione, "Exactly like that Mione. Try the other way though, it can do more than just go in one direction..." he was cut off as the image went back to an empty room.

"See what I mean," Harry said to his friends.

"That was weird," Ginny commented.

"What's this thing about being Merlin's Heir, anyway?" Ron asked.

"Well, like I said, I'm unique. The only other Harry Potter's out there that can match me in both power, skill, and use similar if not the same spells of Battle Magic that I do, all tend to somehow inherit or are chosen to become the next Merlin. In other words, the Greatest Wizard of the Ages. This is either done from being trained my Merlin himself, becoming Merlin's Avatar, finding Merlin's Lost Staff, his grimoire, or even being directly descended from him on my mother's side. Lots of different things to arrive at the same result, an ultra powerful Harry Potter using magical skills that haven't been seen for over a thousand years in most cases."

"Wicked!" Ron acknowledged.

"So... if we don't want a sealed room, what are we looking for?" Hermione asked, trying to get them back on track.

"Tropical beach would be ideal, but unlikely," Harry chuckled. "We'll just have to look until we find something that catches our eye. And doesn't already have a group of us in it. If there's a group of us in there, by accident or not, it means that the universe in question is out of the question. They're needing to get out of their universe for time to train or to search for something to help them in their own battles, battles that are probably just as urgent as our own here. Hence, empty is good, but unsealed would be nice. Maybe some sunlight streaming in through the door," he pointed out the reflection of the door in the Mirror.

"OK, now that that's settled," Hermione stepped up and turned Harry around rather roughly, "You still have some more explaining to do! Why did you scream at me earlier? And I don't mean about the mirror or in the hall when I gasped, I mean back at Gimmauld Place! I started to show you something and you screamed at me to stop. Why? What was I doing that was so bad?"

Harry sighed again, slouching a bit. "Y'know, I'd kinda been hoping you'd forgotten about that."

She silently glared at him. For good measure, she even threw in the look she gave him and Ron when they didn't finish their homework and crossed her arms to show her impatience. Harry crumbled like a house of cards. Sighing again, he ran his fingers through his hair and started pacing around the Mirror once more.

"What you were doing is an advanced magical art, a subsidiary study of Battle Magic. Not one of the primary lessons, something you either specialize in, or you don't use it at all," he explained. "It's called _Rune Battle Magic_. And, as you can guess from the name alone, it uses runes and similar symbols to form and cast spells with. And, it's used for battle and fighting."

"Why haven't you mentioned it before?"

"Like I said, you either specialize in it, or you don't do it," he told her. "I chose to become a generalist, learning everything to do with Battle Magic equally. The fact that, at seventeen, I'm pretty much a master in all my fields says a lot, but I'm not even a novice at Rune Battle Magic. I won't lie to you Hermione, the fact that you can use Rune Battle Magic _naturally_ and seem to have quite a talent for it... well, it scares me."

"Scares you? But why?" Hermione couldn't understand.

"What was the first thing you did with this new skill? Accident or otherwise, what was the first thing?" he asked her with a pointed glare.

She sheepishly grimaced and shrugged. "Well, actually it looked like I sort of froze the library study..."

"Froze it solid, like it had been through an ice age or two maybe?" he pointedly asked. She nodded.

"Rune Magic of any sort is dangerous as the runes take the place of magical forms, and those symbols can mean almost anything. Put into a specific pattern, Rune Magic can have effects greater and more powerful than the strongest wizard using the strongest wand to cast the most powerful spell ever. Rune _Battle_ Magic takes writing them down out of the equation. As you already know, Rune Battle Magic takes the method I taught you for forming the shape of the spell and then using that to cast the spell, to the next level, by forming _runes_ in the same way. Same pattern of runes that makes a regular Rune spell, carved onto a stone alter to cast a mass area-effect spell, can be cast by just picturing the runes and forming them out of magic into the same pattern. What you did earlier was combine the rune for water in the universal pattern for wind. Combining two elements in a way that exponentially builds upon itself, increasing the formation of ice with each repetition of the pattern. Hence making ice of everything directly around you."

As she absorbed all that, he concluded, "Yeah, Hermione, it scares me. It should scare you too."

"Oh... OK..." she mumbled.

"Uh... so... what about this mirror here?" Ron interrupted, clearly trying to change the subject.

"Right," Harry turned around to face the mirror directly. "First things first, finding a world where we won't be pressured for time or anything like that. Preferably a universe where time moves slower and is a few weeks, if not years behind where we are at. This might take a while, so you guys better get comfortable."

"How long is a while?" Ginny asked.

"Depends," was his only answer.

"Depends on what?" Ron questioned.

"Exactly," came Harry's infuriating reply.

"Exactly what? You're not making any sense mate!"

"The short answer is, this is going to take as long as it takes and not a minute sooner. There aren't any short cuts, and if we choose wrong, then we could be in even more hot water than we are as it is," he testily remarked. "So. While I'm searching for an appropriate universe for us to train in, how about you guys get a head start and practice meditating? _Regular_ meditating," he emphasized with a look at Hermione.

"Right, right, right. I hate all this meditating stuff," Ron grumbled, but sat down on the floor and put himself in position to relax and reach for his magic. Ginny and Hermione quickly adopted positions to either of his sides, all three quickly falling into the unique magical meditation Harry had taught them.

Meanwhile, Harry turned his attention towards the Mirror. It was pretty simple to use, but the theory and technology behind it was light years beyond anything humans were currently capable of, even if it had been humans that made it millennia ago. Pulling out his Holly wand, he channeled only a spark of magic to the end and pointed it at the mirror. Keeping in mind his other doubles that he'd already seen and the way they moved their own wands right as they vanished, he figured it would be a good idea to head to the 'left' so to speak.

Twitching his wand to his left hand side, the image in the mirror flickered for an eye blink, though nothing else had changed. Still an empty room, still midnight. Twitching his wand again, another flicker, Harry got rather annoyed seeing another empty room. He twitched his wand once more, and found another empty room. Very annoyed now, Harry didn't so much twitch his wand as flicked it to the left all the way before returning it to a steady hold. The flicker lasted for the breadth of Harry's flick and when it returned to normal, he still saw an empty room, but the major difference came in that he saw a steady stream of light coming down from the closed doorway, indicating that direct sunlight was hitting it head on.

Thinking back to what he understood of the pattern this particular Vault took, he realized that this particular universe was roughly about a few weeks behind their own, as the only time the Vault was in a position to receive sunlight was when it was on the East tower, which it hadn't been for over a month. It also meant that it would be a very long drop if they opened that door, followed by a very long wait if they didn't as it went down to the dungeons after the tower.

Flicking his wand to the left again, Harry saw something even more promising. Moonlight streaming from the _open_ doorway. Still a few months behind, but... Harry stopped when he saw a flash of light come from the doorway. Spell fire. Which would put it roughly about five months previous, on the night when Malfoy let all those Death Eaters into Hogwarts and Dumbledore killed himself using Snape. Sighing, he flicked his wand to the left once again.

Fifteen minutes later, he was still at it, having found a few good prospects, but usually it was either at a bad time, the Vault was in a bad place in Hogwarts, or some other factor (like that one that had a pile of chewed on bones in both corners and a sword and shield emblem on the wall) that prevented him from agreeing to that particular place. He'd gone from flicking his wand to swishing and going in more elaborate directions than just left or right, often at various angles.

Finally, after his friends had finished meditating and were just sitting there watching him, he found a good starting place. It would give them at least seven months before the end of 6th Year term, maybe more, and then he could just find the room again and go back even further, or in a completely different direction. Regardless, the universe he'd found was currently in mid-November, if not just quite, and the Vault was in an out-of-the-way place that would not be impossible to get out of.

"All right," he told his friends, "Here we are. It's not exactly perfect, but it's a starting point. During a relatively quiet time at Hogwarts, and in a universe that is far enough behind that we'll have plenty of time and able to get plenty more if it becomes necessary."

"So, how do we do this?" Ginny asked, curious.

"Just touch the mirror's surface. It's a little bit like a Portkey, only less violently unpleasant. Now, something that is pretty important here, we all need to touch the mirror at the same time. It's not life or death important, but it will prevent any inconvenience on our part." Harry warned them.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Because if we don't all touch the mirror at the same time, the others will be waiting on whoever came last for about ten or fifteen minutes at a time," he answered. "The Mirror's effect covers interaction and observation, but the travel between universes requires taking into account all of the temporal differences between each phase of the Space/Time Continuum between each..." he stopped and looked at each of his friend's expressions. Sighing, he growled, "Just be sure to touch the Mirror at the exact same time, OK?"

"OK," Ron quickly agreed.

All of them held their wand hands forward, hovering just above the mirror's surface, waiting.

"All right, one," Harry began to count, "two... THREE!"

As one they all reached forward and touched the cool surface of the Mirror at the same moment.

TO BE CONTINUED...

In "4 In 1 To Infinity"

AN: A lot of people try doing stuff like this every so often, I've even tried it once or twice before. But this gives me a unique opportunity, so let's see how long I can keep it going, yeah? Anyway, the first chapter of the sequel story should be out on October 31, end of the month, same as my usual update date, and I hope you'll all enjoy it as much as you've enjoyed this one! If, and I do stress the word IF anybody would like to add to, or even like to cross in some of their own HP-fanfics, please contact me at to begin discussions and brainstorming! I think this story has a good momentum and I want to keep it up. PLEASE help me keep it up!

Enjoy!

;

-- Joshua "The Evil Guy"


	17. ReWrite!

This Story Will Be Re-Written!

My sincerest apologies to anyone and everyone that was waiting on this story to be updated. To be quite honest about it, I feel that my writing has developed leagues beyond what I had put down here originally, and at the same time I've quite simply lost my inspiration for wherever I was originally going with this story. Therefore, I have decided to end this where it stands. If I ever find the inspiration for this yet again, I'll be sure to let everyone know where and what kind of rewrite I'll be posting. Thanks for your loyal support, and again, my sincerest apologies for making you wait to hear from me regarding this fanfic.

Be sure to check out my newly designated "Home Page" at (minus the 'dots');

http ficsite com/viewuser php?uid=68

Thanks For Your Reviews!

-Joshua "The Evil Guy"-


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